From Under the Kage's Hat
by Volleys-chan
Summary: In response to Perfect Lionheart's writing challenge. Naruto's life turns upside down when he fails to bring Sasuke home and is banned by the council. But the thing that the council did not expect was Tsunade. Hell hath no fury like a woman's scorn.
1. Chapter 1

Hey everybody! As I said this is in response to Perfect LionHeart's writing challenge! This idea is not mine, but the twists and turns are so no copying things that aren't in PLH rule book please!

I saw the stories in a community I read from and also one of my favorite authors was writing their version and it inspired me! So I decided to give it a shot and make my own twisted version of the story. Now when I say twisted, I don't mean I took out any of the rules, but I did add a couple characters to make things more interesting. I know people hate OCs a lot, but they were needed in order to make this a little out of stereo type. Cause there are like twenty responses to this challenge. I need to make it a little out there in order to make the mark that this is **my** idea and I am not copying them.

Again. This is a writing challenge so this might sound already used by the other writers, but there are certain rules that must be followed and so, they must be followed. So sit back and enjoy how I present this story.

No cracks about this not following the canon because people, let's be honest, I am not the writer of Naruto, I am a fanfiction writer and thus I write FANFICTIONS. So you don't like, don't read. But you'll be missing out of some really big twists!

I am not putting off any of my other stories. I am writing this one as it comes to me. As I write all my stories, so do not pressure me they all will be updated eventually. Even That's my Lullaby.... eventually... I think I figured that one out... I think...

Anyways, back to this story. Hope you like my new ideas!

Enjoy

* * *

Pain. Tons of agonizing negative contact. Something that is not comfortable. The opposite of pleasure.

Any of these definitions would work right at that moment as Uzumaki Naruto had chidori thrust into his heart. He could feel it being ripped to shreds as he just stared at those crimson eyes of his ex-friend.

In what he presumed was his final minutes of his life, he could only think of one thing.

He should have never made this promise. If by some miracle he was able to survive this, which even he doubted, he would have to tell Sakura that this was one promise he would not attempt again. It hurt too much to fight this guy since he ALWAYS cheated.

He opened his eyes a crack to see Sasuke looking down at him, his forehead protector gone from his head and lying right next to Naruto's dying body.

Naruto decided that if he ever saw this piece of trash again, he would rip him a new one without even trying to bring him back. The Uchiha didn't deserve it. His soul was too blackened by his hate for his brother.

Once again Naruto closed his eyes and waited to fall into the nothingness that he supposed waited for a tainted soul like his.

* * *

_The Kyuubi was many things, but never a fool. Its dark and tainted chakra would never be able to heal the child. It knew it was going to die if it didn't do something, but what it knew it had to do was unthinkable to the giant creature._

_It had to go back on everything it was based on for the last century and go a different path. It had to…_

**'Oh, this is going to hurt,'** _Kyuubi thought as it took in a deep breath._

_It took a small form of a red haired maiden and with her golden eyes she laid them to rest on the sealed gate._

**'This is really going to hurt,'**_ she assured herself as she went into ramming speed._

_She inhaled deeply as she became caught in the middle of two large bars, and began to scream in pain as the seal did its job. Slowly her chakra withdrew itself from the child's body and was absorbed back into her own body. The Kyuubi finally wretched herself free from were she had been standing and now on the opposite side, collapsed herself. She closed her eyes as she lost herself to the pain, but not before beginning to drown the boy's system with her chakra once again, only this time it was a pure white color, not its former dark and malicious red chakra._

**_"Kit… Don't die yet,"_**_ a voice that was gentle and silvery came from the newly transformed kitsune's mouth.

* * *

_

Sasuke was gone by the time that Kakashi had gotten there. He was breathing hard as he looked around worriedly for his knuckleheaded student. He sighed in relief as he caught a glimpse of that painfully bright orange and dashed down to his fallen student's side.

Kakashi's single visible eye widened at the critical damage that Sasuke- no that traitor trash- had done to Naruto. He checked for a pulse and almost cried in relief to the fact that Naruto still had one. Without a second to waste, he hoisted Naruto up and began to make a mad dash all the way back to Konoha.

_'Naruto, don't die yet!'_ Kakashi thought as he sped through the trees in an almost impossible pace, even loosing Pakkun at his current speed,_ 'I have yet made amends for all my sins towards you.'_

* * *

To say that Tsunade was happy at the outcome was like saying that Tsunade was usually sober and dry.

She had just slipped out of the long process of healing Chouji when she had to go check up on the other injured ninjas from the Sasuke Retrieval Team.

If she ever got a hold of that boy, she was going to rip him a new one and then once he recovered, do it all over again. That Uchiha had cost her hours and hours of work, which she was now just finishing.

She had just finished looking over Shikamaru's broken finger when Kakashi had busted through the doors and looked at her while holding the barely breathing Naruto, ready to pass out himself.

"Save him," he pleaded as he held the boy out to his mother figure.

Tsunade's mind went right into panic mode as she snatched the child's body right out of Kakashi's hold and began to storm down the emergency room hall, barking orders to every doctor and nurse who she knew would help her little child.

Kakashi glanced at Shikamaru before muttering, "It was that trash, Uchiha… he got away too…" Before passing out from physical fatigue.

* * *

The stable beeping of the heart monitor was like music to Tsunade's ears. She had almost had a conniption when she had undressed the boy and seen the damage without that orange colored jacket covering it up and making it look not as bad as it really was.

His heart…

Tsunade's own heart clenched at the thought. She stroked the blonde's tresses of golden goodness, that being the only thing not covered in bandages, as she thought about it again.

His heart was rebuilding itself by the time Tsunade had cut him open to see what could be done. She had stupidly let it be as she quickly worked on his punctured lungs and internal bleeding, not thinking the Kyuubi would do something to it, but by the time she had looked again, his heart had finished repairs and had rebuilt itself differently then a human heart was suppose to look like. It even had swirled scar tissue on the front of it, from the chakra burns it had received from Chidori.

Tsunade could only sniffle and force tears back as she thought of what that Kyuubi had done to her little Naru-chan's heart.

She sat down next to his bed, still running her fingers through his hair, and admiring its healthy sun kissed glow. His hair was the same color's as his father's and his eyes the same azure color. She ran her fingers through one more time only to stop mid way as she noticed something.

His roots were coming in white. Not premature graying like some people had, but white- like white as pure snow white.

Her forehead crinkled itself in confusion as she began to check all of his hair. Some remained golden blond, but most of it was turning pure white.

Just to make sure that she wasn't loosing it, she slide down the bandages on his face to check his whisker marks, but they too were different. They were white, but at the same time thicker. The white reminded her of a prism as it reflected the colors from the light that kissed his face.

She pulled her hand back as if burned. Naruto's bandages coving his marks instantly afterwards, making it seem as if she had only dreamed it. Tsunade was about to check again at this strange change, but one of her ANBU rapped on the hospital window swift and hard.

Tsunade wasn't stupid. She wasn't exactly use to having ANBU at her every beck and call, but she knew they usually didn't expose themselves in broad day light.

"What is it Mongoose?" Tsunade asked impatiently as she stared at the member of her personal guard.

"Hokage-sama…" the female voice said before pausing for a moment, "Oh, hell, you won't believe me even if I say it. So come with me and just hear this for yourself!"

"Just say it," Tsunade snarled, "I've been working non-stop so I am too tired to go anywhere."

"Fine…" Mongoose whined, "But no matter how sadistic people say I am, I do not want to be harmed because I was stuck with the short straw and had to tell you."

"Fine, fine, fine. I get it, don't shoot the messenger, NOW SPIT IT OUT ALREADY!"

"Okay, here goes nothing-"

* * *

Tsunade came storming into the room, slamming the doors open, causing them to break the hinges with the amount of force she had added out of anger.

"**What. Did. You.**** _Do_**." Tsunade growled, angry as hell.

Mongoose was right behind her, nursing her currently broken ribs in her one good arm and walking with a slight limp. The other ANBU that were in the room just praised whatever good deed they had done that had allowed Karma to show them the grace of not getting stuck with the short straw like Mongoose.

Telling an easily tempered woman who is unnaturally sober because she have been too busy saving lives to actually sit down and drink a cup of sake was none of their idea of fun. Not even the infamous Mongoose.

"We merely did the village a favor," one of the men in the room said, taking a sip from his tea he had before him.

"This is the council, not the leaders of the village. I am the leader of this village and I am the only one who says who gets banished and who stays." Tsunade snarled, her anger apparent to the shinobi on the board.

"Sorry," Tsume said with a heavy sigh, "We got out voted. Not all of us want this. Heck I don't even understand the charges that they claim he has done."

"He has stolen from Konoha, defaced Konoha's finest monuments to our village's leaders, damaged public and private property alike, and now, not only has he begun to transform into the demon he is, he has caused the last Uchiha to run in fear to another village!!" the same councilman claimed as he angrily set down his tea cup.

"I'm sorry," Tsunade grounded out through her clenched jar, trying to remember that thing about counted to ten in her head that Shizune had taught her, "I thought I just heard the stupidest reasons to banish a shinobi loyal to Konoha."

"You did," The Senior Ino-Shika-Cho grumbled as they glumly rested their heads in a hand and looked irked.

Screw counting, this meant war.

"You can't do anything without my consent! I do not agree with these claims and you are to back down immediately! I am the Hokage, not you!"

"But Tsunade, it is clearly written in the Konoha laws that during the first year in office, the council shall be given the responsibility over the village and its shinobi in order to keep balance in Konoha while the new Hokage gets use to their position. We can do this sort of thing and we did. As soon as Uzumaki Naruto is taken out of intensive care, he is to leave Konoha in the following week."

"You can't do this!" Tsunade yelled, slamming her hands onto the table and breaking it into two before looking at Hyuuga Haishi, "They can't do this, right?"

"I'm afraid so," The stoic clan leader said with a sigh, "Not even the high council clan members can usurp the decision of the majority of the council, nor can the advisors. Trust me Hokage-sama, we tried."

"Every trick in the book too," Kohaku growled, "They still win. Now that poor child is going to be thrown out like yesterday's trash."

"But we managed to make sure no harm comes to the boy from Konoha, and he will not be marked as a nuke-nin. Lady Hokage, we have done all we can for him," Homaru finished for his female counterpart in the advisor-ship.

Tsunade caught their double meaning as she glared at the remaining council members who dared to go against her will. She bowed her head and managed out a decent thank you to the ones who had tried and gave one last snarl to the ones who were permanently on her hit list once more before storming out of the room, her ANBU disappearing right after her.

"So," Rabbit managed to say without laughing at Mongooses poor attempts to run along side her ANBU teammates, "What happened?"

"She lashed out at me, breaking a few ribs. After that, I lost my equilibrium for a moment and fell out the window from the third floor and landed in the bush below." Mongoose hissed, "Next time, I am not the messenger."

"I guess we can allow that as rights to being the last barer of bad news," Frog chuckled lightly.

* * *

Bad news seemed to travel faster then Tsunade thought, because right when she had made the turn around the corner to see her office door, she spotted the young Hyuuga heiress bawling her eyes out while actually waiting for Tsunade to return from the meeting.

Well it more was like a mutiny. Traitorous dooshbags.

"Is it true!?" Hinata cried out as she looked right at Tsunade with those naturally wide pearl eyes, "Are they banishing Naruto-kun for a few stupid things like pranks?"

Tsunade was impressed at the way Hinata's stutter disappeared when she was emotionally upset about Naruto.

"Yes," Tsunade sighed heavily as she held her hand up to her forehead to sweep away her bangs, "I don't know where you heard this but it really doesn't matter. I apparently don't have the power to nullify it either, nor does your father, nor does my advisors, or any other head clan council member, and there are 10!"

"But there has to be something you can do!" The Hyuuga uncharacteristically yelled at the top of her lungs, "Naruto has only given to Konoha! Now they want to take everything away from him!? What kind of village is this!?!"

With that she took off down the other hall, towards the other exit. Tsunade just gazed at where the girl once stood and let out a sigh, "Boy, does she have it bad for Naruto."

"Are you kidding? She watches him more then all of ANBU," Cat droned with a pleased tone, "She really admires that boy. I bet she knows more about him then anybody, but she just doesn't have the guts to talk to him or admit her feelings."

"I see," Tsunade said as she nodded, "Well, I just need to grab a couple things from my office, then I want to return to Naruto's side. So, take a coffee break and don't wait up."

She went into her office, grabbed her needed things and swiftly left via her window while her personal guard just looked at each other.

"We get coffee breaks?" Frog said before the Rabbit began to laugh at the thought.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I am going to go check in at the hospital… Man, if anyone finds out what happens, I'll be a laughing stock." Mongoose said as she took off her mask and stored it away.

"Don't worry Anko, you can just use your normal excuse," Cat said.

"Oh," Anko said as she raised a brow, "Pray tell, Cat, what it that?"

"You did it while screwing one of your many boy toys," Cat said before disappearing.

"Comedians, all of you. What I do in my or anybody else's bedroom is my own business," Anko grumbled as she cast a glare at Frog and Rabbit, "Right boys?"

"Right Anko," both said with a nervous tone.

"And what I did early today doesn't leave this hall, right," her grin twisted in a way that made the two trained ANBU members' stomachs drop.

"Yes,"_ Gulp_, "Anko-san," they once again said together.

"Good," she said, immediately dropping her intimidation technique, "Now I'm off to the hospital."

With that, she too disappeared leaving Frog and Rabbit shivering.

"You know, I hear that only one-third of those men every leave the bedroom alive."

"You heard one-third? I heard one-eighth and even twenty percent of those men don't live to see tomorrow…"

"Maybe if we are really lucky, one of her own snakes will decided to eat her and save the male species from her."

"If we are lucky…"

* * *

Once again, Tsunade was surprised at how fast that shy little girl got around. She had beat Tsunade to Naruto's room and was now talking the slowly changing boy who was currently knocked out from all the drugs they had him on.

"I'm so sorry Naruto," She cried as she buried her hands in her face, crying like she had been when she had confronted Tsunade, "I should have come too, to help, or-or-or to give some sort of support! I wish I was as strong and brave as you are, but its so hard to put on a happy face and act as if nothing it wrong! How do you do it? Pretend like this place is so great! How?"

Hinata's voice finally failed her as all she could do was cry. Cry for Naruto, because he couldn't cry for himself; Cry because her chance to be his friend instead of the creepy, weird girl was also gone; And cry because currently nobody else would.

"What I would give to leave with you," Hinata mumbled sometime later.

That was when Tsunade received the greatest idea of all time. A smile found itself on her face as she begun to really think it through. This idea of hers, it was perfect. She had a while and she could keep Naruto under for a while, claiming it was a coma until she had everything planned out perfectly.

"What if you could?" She asked to both herself and the sobbing Hyuuga who had yet noticed her presence.

Hinata jumped as she turned about, looking surprised as she choked out a, "Wh-what?"

"I said, 'What if you could?' would you take that chance? Or would you let it pass you by?"

"I-I-I would take it," Hinata said as she swallowed the lump in her throat, "But the elders are breathing down Otou-san's neck. He can't do that or they will cause problems."

"Leave that to me," Tsunade said as she walked further into the room, still with that grin on her face, "I just had the greatest idea of the century, but you are going to have to trust me on this, okay?"

"H-H-Hai, Hokage-sama," Hinata said, her eyes widening as she reverted back into her normal self.

"Please," Tsunade said as she sat down next to Hinata, "Call me Shishou."

* * *

You know my standard end notes:

How did you like this?

Excited?

Do you think you know where this is going?

What do you think of Mongoose/Anko?

Now I bet your confused about the whole Anko thing. Well I like Anko. She's funny so I am building her up as I want to and she's going to be a main character. Maybe not a Naruto love interest, but more like a big sister part. I think I'll just keep this HinataNaruto, but who knows, you guys might convince me otherwise. If you want.

But not with Anko.

Head's up. I am not good with Jutsu names, so, you get what you get and you will not complain that is sounds bad. I am not Japanese nor do I take Japanese. I learn by reading other people's stories. I read the canon, but it's crap right now so I stay away from it. (Has been crap since Deidara died) (I like Deidara... But I don't think he will be in this one... unless you guys convince me to)

_Bows_ Please take care of my story, it is in your hands to make or break (no useless flames, only ones that will help make this better please. Will delete the ones that are **useless** bashing of my writing)

Ja Ne

Volleys-chan


	2. Chapter 2

Okay everybody, I the utmost genius (NOT) forgot to put a disclaimer and a title for the first chapter. I will deal with that later, until then, these won't have the normal title I put in front of all my stories. I will be working on that soon though. I have noticed some mistakes that I need to change and need to go back and remember which ones I need to change. Until then just deal with this.

I got an amazing input on my story. Because so many of you have asked- this will just be a NaruHina. No harem. But that doesn't mean Anko and the other characters that are going to join them are going to magically disappear. Nope, there might be some side parings but near the end so no use guessing.

There was one person who said to add Deidara to the 'Tsunade's merry band'. Should I? I was thinking about it, but if the majority thinks that this should be a no, then I will have to leave him out... of this fic anyways.

So as I said, there are going to be some main character OCs. Mainly just two, but there might be more added on later. Do not hate me for my OCs. They will add humor I promise! Maybe when you get to know them, but you might like them. Enough about them though.

To make things clear- the ten high council members all voted against banning Naruto. That means Shibi and Tsume too. I decided that everyone uses Koharu and Homaru as bad guys. I hate that standard. Though I do usually use the council when I write stories like these, I like making bad guys have a chance. So expect some bad guys turning good.

But I promise Sasuke will not be a good guy in this one. I will have him a good guy in another story, but not this one.

There will be no Sasuke or Sakura bashing in this. I do not like bashing these characters because it get so bloody old and really really fast. Maybe one or two jabs at Sasuke, but that will be it.

Sakura is just shallow minded as a child, but she gets over that. In this story she gets over it just like she got over Sasuke and told Naruto not to chase him anymore for her. (which he didn't listen to her.) I just magnified it in here. A bit... okay a lot. But don't sue me over it neh?

Enough jabber:

Enjoy

* * *

_**From Under the Kage's Hat**_

_Chapter 2_

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto now or ever. Not even for a moment last chapter or this chapter or any chapter I write. Perfect LionHeart owns the writing challenge.**

* * *

_Time in one's own mind always seemed to go either really slow or really fast. The first time he had ever entered his dark and dreary mindscape, only a few seconds in the real world had occurred. _

_But this time, Naruto noticed, time seemed to go by in a faster pace._

_Imagine his surprise when he awoken in an alley of his mindscape, alive. He almost whooped for joy and given praise to the stupid fox for pulling through once again, but that would mean that he was proud of the having the fox, which he was not, so he did nothing of the sort._

_Actually, he had yet to even go near the fox's cage. He had actually never been anywhere but near that cage during his trips into his mind and this time he wanted to see what this place had to offer._

_To his amusement, he had discovered that he could look over every memory that he had accumulated in the past, so he had busied himself with looking over the good parts of his life. Which meant all the current events that had occurred during his shinobi career._

_After going over all of his good times, Naruto was still not ready to go see that irritable fox and decided to look into his childhood._

_After a while, he really wished he didn't. The more he watched, the more upset he became. He flinched as he watched the rock in the image thrown at his child self and the villager cursed at him._

_The more he watched, the more he began to become unsettled. Sure, Jiji had always cared for him as well as the Ramen stand owners, but no one else had truly cared. His heart sank at that thought._

_He would have fallen further into that despair, but something shot out from behind him, shattering the terrible memory in front of him. He spun around and stared at what had disturbed his reminiscing._

_"Who… Who are you?" He finally asked as he looked at the female figure standing still with a sagely air about her._

**_"Kit-sweeite," _**_She said calmly with a smile coming across her face, **"Who do you think I am?"**_

_Naruto just stared at her for a moment, taking in her appearance._

_She was pale skinned but had a healthy glow to her skin. Her hair was pure white with a prism glow to it as different colors reflected off of her hair. Her eyes were silver pools, that seemed to reflect the nature of a soul. Three thick lines ran across each side of her face, all six having that same white prism glow to it, the edges outlined in silver and the middle almost clear. Two long fox ears with the same white color sprouting out from where a human's ears were located._

_Her figure was an hourglass and was well displayed in her white outfit. She wore a light, long-sleeved kimono with an pearl white obi and a cloth cord wrapped around her waist twice and tied neatly with a fan held between the cord and obi. The only color on her outfit was the silver fox shapes dancing up the side of her kimono and the gold trimming. Nine white tails swishing behind her, but never touching the filth of the water._

_Her hands had sharp claw-like nails that were nicely cared for and in her dominant hand she held a golden staff that had a kitsune at the top, whose nine tails formed a complete circle above it and nine golden rings were held in the tail circle._

_Not only was she beautiful, but she also radiated a pure chakra from her body, nothing like Naruto had ever felt before. Shaking himself from his stupor, Naruto forced himself to answer the strange fox like humanoid._

_"Either you're the Shinigami or really, really lost. Nothing as pure as you lives here."_

_Naruto couldn't even believe how pure her laughter sounded. Like the finest crafted silver bells chiming happily._

**_"I am neither a Shinigami or lost. I have dwelled here with you since the day of your birth, Naru-pyon."_**

_"…What…" Naruto said as he cocked his head, "Are you saying that I had two beings sealed within me the day of my birth? Because I _know_ your chakra is too pure to be the Kyuubi's."_

**_"Perhaps you are just seeing what many people believe. Maybe the Kyuubi use to be pure?"_**

_Naruto looked at the figure before again, before laughing, "Yeah right, you couldn't possibly be the Kyuubi. You're a girl! And your nice! And pure!"_

_The Kyuubi sighed as she used her free hand to run her fingers through her long hair while bonking Naruto with her staff._

**_"I am the Kyuubi, Naruto."_**

_Naruto just stared at her for a moment, looking her head to toe, which were bare of any shoes._

_"I don't believe you." He finally deadpanned as he crossed his arms and looked away with a stubborn look on his face._

_The female humanoid just sighed again before gently grabbing onto the collar of his jacket and began to drag him._

_"Wh-what are you doing!?" Naruto yelled as he attempted to keep his balance as she dragged him backwards._

**_"Proving myself,"_**_ She replied simply, **"I may be a saint, but that doesn't mean I am infinitely patient. Even I can only take so much and you are pushing it Kit."**_

_Naruto continued with his protests yelling things such as 'I don't want to go see that grumpy old fox' and 'If I have to look at his ugly mug one more time I will throw up' and such like that. By the time they actually reached the cage, the self-proclaimed Kyuubi tossed him a bit ahead of her, allowing him to stumble forward and near that cage._

_But what surprised him was that he did not feel that malicious energy that usually radiated from out of the cage. There was nothing._

_"Hey Fox!" Naruto yelled, nearing the cage, looking for the ancient beast he kept in his mindscape, "Ugly old fox! Where the hell are you?"_

_No answer came from the cage, but he did get a rather aggressive clearing of the throat from the self-proclaimed Kyuubi, who was looking rather vexed at him._

**_"Do you believe me _now_?"_**_ She questioned in a strained voice, as if keeping her temper in check._

_"Um….whoops…" Naruto said as he backed up a bit and waved his hands defensively in front of himself, "Sorry about all those names I called you. I didn't really believe that you were actually the ole'- err- I mean the Kyuubi."_

_The Kyuubi took a deep breath before letting it out ten seconds later, looking at Naruto in a calmer state._

**_"I can over look that I guess, since I was un-pure at that time and festering in negative energy. But you are not to call me those things again. Got it, Kit?"_**

_"Got it, ano, Kyuubi-chan," Naruto said as he nervously began to rub the back of his head and letting out a nervous laugh._

**_"Good, now ask away, since I know you are dying to know what has occurred."_**

_"Why are you so… pure. I thought you were the king of demons!"_

**_"I am not the king of demons, you humans labeled me that after I appeared during my negative phase. I originally was known as a miko."_**

_"A miko? But then how did you become so dark and nasty?"_

**_"Sharingan."_**

_"An Uchiha made you that way?" Naruto yelled unbelievingly._

**_"Yes,"_**_ Kyuubi confirmed as her eyes hardened at the memory, **"The man caught me by surprise. He cast me into a state of negative emotions in order to control me. What he didn't expect was for me to escape his control and go on a rampage almost ninety years later."**_

_"So how did you… uh… purify (is that the right term for that?) yourself?"_

**_"Yes, that would be the right term, kit. I wasn't about to attempt to purify myself because I had grown complacent in my hate, but when that young Uchiha brat had threatened our lives, I realized that in my current state, I could not save us. So I came to the conclusion that it was either I purified myself and lived, or stayed the same and perished."_**

_"So you did it for yourself," Naruto said as he crossed his arms angrily._

**_"Originally, yes. But after becoming purified, those thoughts of greed vanished and I did it to save you. You still have a long life to live, and now it is even longer."_**

_That caught Naruto for a loop. He took a couple steps back as he cast her a surprised look._

_"What?"_

**_"Well, when I attempted to purify myself, I used the seal to purify me. So let me tell you, it was quite painful, so when I reached this side of the cage… I was ready to pass out… So… I poured out as much as I could before I passed out."_**

_"So… what did that do?"_

**_"Well… I guess I flooded you system with my chakra, so that caused a change in your body… a positive change. I can't really explain it well, but I believe you will receive some of my divine abilities, including being somewhat immortal."_**

_"Immortal?" Naruto chocked._

**_"As in you live forever, but unlike a tailed beast, you can die if wounded properly."_**

_"I think I need to sit down," Naruto said as he unceremoniously sat on the watery ground of his mindscape._

**_"It's a lot to take in, isn't it, Kit-sweetie?"_**

_"Yeah… a whole lot…"_

**_"Want me to continue?"_**

_"Yeah… just a little slower…"_

**_"Alright, well this is what I need you to expect-"

* * *

_**

Tsunade sighed as she looked over all her paper work that she needed to get done before she could even revolt against the decision of the council. She had to look through _everything_ just to know in exactly what way she could screw those nutcases over.

So far she had about 80 percent of her ideas planned out, she just needed to make them official. That was what was taking so long, one of them was getting the paperwork and contracts written out so she could take Hinata as her apprentice.

Actually, not just as her apprentice, but as her legal guardian.

Tsunade was able to convince Hinata's father with the slightest of ease. He had been looking for a way to save his daughter from the impending cage bird seal and this was just too perfect to pass up.

Next, she had to double check every scrap of paperwork that was related to Hinata to make sure that the elders didn't have anything over Hinata's head, like an arranged marriage. Luckily, the girl was free in that sense, but it still didn't make it just a simple look through all the paper work. Tsunade had to make sure there were no loopholes in any of it, and if there were, to fix it so there wasn't.

There was really a lot to do in order to make sure they couldn't find a way to get her back by any legal terms. So Tsunade had to go over all the papers just to make sure she couldn't be screwed over in her attempt to screw them over.

How she wished she could just write:

_I, the Fifth Hokage of Konoha, Senju Tsunade grant Senju Tsunade the ability to leave Konoha with no repercussions what so ever._

And other rulings just like that and stamp away and have no problems, but unfortunately, there would be oodles of loopholes and she wanted none.

Call her a perfectionist, call her a nutcase, or call her a mother: none of these would be enough because this had to be done right and the first time she submitted them.

She sighed as she looked over the document she had been working on. At this point, Naruto would be healed enough to leave in a matter of days and she wouldn't be able to keep him in a medical coma like she had planned. There were too many backstabbers in the hospital- which by the way all needed to get theirs before she left too.

She would need some kind of miracle to finish all these. Or at least one very obsessive to detail person…

Wait a minute.

Tsunade jerk her head up in her sudden revolution.

She did know someone like that, actually, she knew two somebodys!

"Why didn't I think of this earlier!" Tsunade cried out to herself as she began to write up a note and bit her thumb.

She change up the hand signs from her usual contract summons signs and thrust her hand on to her desk to summon the small creature.

"Tsu-hime," The creature said in surprise, "You have not summoned us in ages. What do you need of me?"

"I need you to give this to the current holder of your contract. Tell that lazy bum to have these read and corrected by the end of the week. The note will explain what I need from your contract holder."

She looked at the creature with her pretty beryl eyes and it sighed as it took the note in its paw.

"I will take it to the current holder of the contract of the Griffins, just remember my requirements for those who do not hold my contract," the beast said as it eyed her.

"Yeah I know, I'll get you your veal." Tsunade said with a nod, "Just go before someone sees you."

With that, the griffin disappeared in a puff of smoke with the current documents she had just finished and left her with the ones she still needed to be done.

That was at least three-fourths less now that she had assigned the rest to those very nit-picky brats.

_'Okay, on to the ones about Naruto, then I need to get some sake. Being dry for a whole freaking week has really left me agitated.'_ Tsunade thought as she began to work on her next assignment.

* * *

"My Liege, please my liege wake up," the griffon sighed as he pushed he paw against the back of his contract's holder, "This is important!"

"How important?" a voice asked from the other side of the room, two golden eyes glowing in the dark room.

"Very important, Tsunade-hime summoned me just for the occasion," the griffon said with no fear emitting from his body as he looked at the other figure in the room.

"I see. Leave it here and I will begin to look over it," the voice said as the two eyes closed, "but we are tired, let us rest for a bit. It is night here."

"I see," the griffon said as he dropped the note and documents and papers, "Then begin as soon as you can. This has a due date."

"I understand Shuuki, I will wake Jiri for it later. Let us rest for now."

Shuuki just nodded before disappearing, but not before saying, "Yes Hancock-sama."

"Jiri," Hancock said after a good ten minutes, "Get up and do look at those papers."

"No…" Jiri growled, "Tired… bed… papers… tomorrow…"

"Fine, but if you don't do it, I'll get Calsifer to eat you."

"Sure," Jiri slurred before beginning to snooze lightly again.

"What to do with you," Hancock complained before drifting off too.

* * *

Shikamaru was one of the few people that ever visited Naruto. Chouji, Neji, and Kiba were still refrained to their beds, so they couldn't visit the blonde, so Shikamaru was the one to do it for all of them.

He was in there almost everyday for most of the day, taking time only to visit the other patients, get food, and use the toilet. But for some reason he couldn't leave Naruto alone. Something during the mission just clicked inside of him and made him decided to follow Naruto till the end.

Even now.

He had seen all of Naruto's visitors. Kakashi came in often, leaving after staring at the boy while saying silent prayers (or so Shika assumed).

Hinata came in every morning, talked to Naruto for a good half an hour, then left to continue her duties in the Hyuuga estate.

Sakura came in once, but after she saw Naruto all banged up, she went hysterical and began to cry. She was escorted out by a couple nurses after she started yelling at them for trying to calm her down.

"Why the HELL should I calm down!" She yelled at them, "That Uchiha…that Uchiha _trash_ just tried to kill the only person who cared about him! I was the one that caused this! Now you tell me why I should calm down!"

Though he thought it was extremely troublesome, he did enjoy her taking down a few of the nurses that had tried to harm Naruto when they didn't think anybody was looking, or even _there._

Iruka, who he hadn't seen since the Academy, came in and talked to Naruto quietly on a regular basis, telling him stories about Konohamaru and his group of friends, and once even brought the trio in to see their hero and friend.

Even Anko, that crazy snake lady, showed up and with as many manners of a pig, began to eat dangos and talk with her mouth open about some of the most vilest things. But she did once say something about being impressed with his sense of loyalty- though she did tell him to give up on this guy.

She seemed to have some issues regarding Orochimaru, who Shikamaru knew Sasuke had gone to.

Jiraya had shown up a couple times, but after Tsunade had walked in on him peeking up a nurse's skirt, she had banned him from the hospital till Naruto was awake.

Tsunade and Shizune were in there every so often. Shizune would check up on the boy, making sure he was healing well. While Tsunade would come in, sit down, start stroking his hair and thinking with hard eyes.

That made Shikamaru nervous. Something was going down and Naruto was in the middle of it. And Shikamaru would not fail his fellow shinobi again. Not Naruto. As he had already decided, even if it was really troublesome, he was going to follow Naruto to the end. So he sat there and waited to see Tsunade make her move.

The door slide open, revealing a totally new face that had yet grace the hospital room doors. Gaara.

"Hey," Shikamaru acknowledged the boy as he continued his one sided shougi game, "He's not conscious yet, but feel free to talk to him. Everyone else has. Just don't expect him to remember what you told him."

Gaara just stared at the Nara before saying one word, "Leave."

"No," Shikamaru said as he moved another piece, "I know I should think it too troublesome to pick a fight, but right now, my gut is telling me to stay here until everything that has been going on finally plays out. And I know Naruto will be the center of it all."

Gaara just stared at him for a minute before nodding, "Fine. But don't expect much from me."

"Too troublesome to expect anything, Gaara-san," Shikamaru said as he continued his game.

Sure, he was a coward. Sure, he was actually shaking in his boots, but he was not about to go back on what he had decided on. Not on his nindo or on Naruto.

"You were very brave," Gaara finally started, talking to Naruto and ignoring the lazy Nara, "Many have gone down the same road as you, but have taken a different path. Sasuke was one of those people. He chose the darkness in his heart. I know that route all too well, Naruto. You led me away from it and I understand your desire to go after him and try to pull him away from that. Unfortunately, not all hearts can be changed for the better. Sometimes trying to change a person will just backfire. I believe Sasuke was one of those people. There will be many things said to you after all this is over with, but I just wanted to tell you that not everyone is like Sasuke. You saved me from that path and I will be ever grateful. Thank you Naruto."

That had to be the most Nara had ever heard from the quiet Suna nin, but what caught him by surprise was the dry chuckle emitting from Naruto's throat. Shikamaru jumped up, just to see those azure eyes open weakly and stare at the redhead.

"Thank you for such encouraging words, Gaara. I am glad you were able to change for the better." He croaked as he pulled his hand out from under the sheets, "But you still suffer, don't you?"

"Shukaku still haunts my thoughts, if that is what you mean," Gaara said as he handed Naruto the glass of water at his table side.

"Yeah," Naruto said as he forced himself into a sitting position, taking the water and drinking it to soothe his throat, "But what if that could be fixed?"

The two seemed to have forgotten, or not noticed in Naruto's case, Shikamaru being in the room. The Nara just frozen as he listen to them talking about the Bijuu.

"I highly doubt my seal could be fixed Naruto. Once those things are crafted, then it is dangerous to tamper with them," Gaara said, looking a little sad, "Even now he reminds me of that."

Naruto chuckled again as he slowly set his water back on the table, "Not like that," his hand swiftly moved towards the location of Gaara's seal, "but the ichibi being purified as it once was so long ago."

Before Gaara could even ask him what he meant, a huge pulse of _white_ chakra shot through Naruto's arm and into the seal, then visibly pulsing through Gaara's entire body before Gaara slumped over unconscious.

"Naruto," Shikamaru choked, already being warned by Temari about Gaara's sleeping problem, "What did you do! Gaara can't go unconscious!"

That had been the first time Naruto noticed Shikamaru. He looked shocked at first as he turned his gaze at the Nara, but his eyes eventually softened as his eyelids became droopy again.

"I set him free," was all he said as he shrugged back into a lying position and going unconscious again, "I merely set him free."

"Alright," Shikamaru said, calming down by force, "I believe you Naruto. Go back to sleep and I'll go get Tsunade-sama."

"Isn't that too troublesome?" Naruto teased as his tongue slurred his words.

"Yeah, but I'll do it for a friend like you," Shikamaru said as he smiled at him, sensing the boy go unconscious again and decided the leave the two just like that.

Gaara slumped at the chair, Naruto back in the position he had been in before he had woken up. Until Shika told someone, no one would know Naruto had woken up.

He looked over his shoulder one more time before jumping out the window and making a run for the Hokage's office to inform her of her favorite genin's awakening.

* * *

"Holy Hell! Are you freaking kidding me!? We have to do all this!" Jiri whined, looking at the documents and papers.

"I have been doing it since sunrise, so shut up and do it you brat," Hancock grumbled, circling another loophole and writing a suggestion.

"Jeez, no fun today I guess," Jiri grumbled, picking up a pen and began to check the contract on the top of the pile.

"Nope, now get to work."

"Work-a-holic."

"Lazy-bum."

* * *

Tsunade had just finished neatly putting another large set of contracts on the side when her peaceful workday became interrupted.

"Lady Hokage," Shikamaru said as he appeared at her window.

"What is it Nara?" She asked her newly made chuunin who was still on his down time.

"It's really troublesome," the Nara whined as he wheezed to catch his breath, "Naruto was awake for all of three minutes and he did something weird to Gaara, then passed out again."

That caught the woman's attention as she grabbed the chuunin's jacket and pulled him in the room and closer to her face.

"What did you see," she asked, looking rather intimidating.

"Hokage-sama, I would tell you right now, but Gaara is unconscious in Naruto's room."

Tsunade's eyes widened at that bit of information and took off out of her window, leaving the Nara alone in her private office. Shikamaru was about to leave when he noticed the paperwork Tsunade had just finished. The title gave him an uneasy feeling.

Knowing soon her ANBU would kick him out, he sighed the word 'troublesome' and followed his leader out the window and sped through Konoha back to the hospital.

* * *

You know my standard end notes:

How did you like this? Better as the chapters get longer?

Excited?

Do you think you know where this is going?

What did you think about the new Kyuubi?

Suggestions on a better name for her? or keep it the same?

What do you think of the Jiri & Hancock moments?

Hancock and Jiri are the two OCs. You will meet them later on, but right now there are more of comic relief. You won't get to know anything about them until Naruto meets them. Until then they are shrouded in mystery. But as Tsunade said, they are a little order-compulsive. They are good at what they do. Plus funny as hell (or so I think).

So once again we must part for update! I thank you all for your reviews! They make me feel very special! lol!

_Bows_ Please take care of my story, it is in your hands to make or break (no useless flames, only ones that will help make this better please. Will delete the ones that are **useless** bashing of my writing)

Ja Ne

Volleys-chan


	3. Chapter 3

Hey everyone! I love all the reviews I have been getting with such great input. I actually picked out the Kyuubi's new name. Please don't be ticked, but she needed a better name. I also renamed Shukaku. I looked up the meaning of the name and it sucked so I picked a better name for the Ichibi.

Now repeat with me:

FANFICTION

I will be changing things, so don't go crying to me if you are mad about something. I have done the damage already and will not withdraw any changes to the characters. For warning: Garra will look different. He will look more like the Ichibi as Naruto is looking more like the Kyuubi. It's just natural since both are being pumped with the Bjiuus' chakra. I couldn's just change one and not the other.

Again. Sakura is good girl in this one. She will get punished slightly (well... you'll understand when we see what happens to her without Tsunade around to be her Shishou) but she will be better for it.

Sasuke... Not going to be seen for a while.

My OCs.... are going to be revealed soon enough.

So sit back and enjoy the reading and oh, Happy Forth of July.

Enjoy

* * *

_**From Under the Kage's Hat**_

_Chapter 3_

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto now or ever. Not even for a moment last chapter or this chapter or any chapter I write. Perfect LionHeart owns the writing challenge.**

* * *

_Gaara had always had very strange dreams when he fell asleep, but the reality of his mindscape he always found even stranger._

_It was a desert with no water or shade. No comforts of family and friends and the feeling of being alone. The only other thing that roamed the vast desert of his mind was Shukaku._

_However, never before had he seen the oasis that he was currently staring at, and he had mastered his mindscape at a very young age. He had searched high and low and never found such a thing._

_But here it was._

_It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. The water was a deep blue and the way it looked on the beach it had was like liquid glass. The trees all bared fruit, and were healthy and strong, creating adequate shade that he had never had before. There was green grass and some berry bushes too._

_However, it was the building that made the place go from lovely to absolutely gorgeous._

_It was obviously a temple, but it was made of out the finest materials. Marble steps finely crafted with a picture design on each step, railings made of sterling silver and had a touch of glass caressing them, and the building was pure white stone, that he could not even recognize, with a glorious architectural theme to it that matched the already impressive steps and railings._

**_"Like it?"_** a voice asked, sounding smooth and elegant, **_"I crafted this place with the finest materials I could summon from the earth. I think its rather gorgeous, don't you think?"_**

_Gaara spun around, looking at the humanoid he had never recalled seeing before._

_It was a female, that much was obvious from her shapely bust, but she was not human- that much he could guess. Her figure was almost hourglass, but her bust was bigger then her hip frame. She had sandy blonde hair that was a bit more golden then Temari's and she wore a desert dweller's attire._

_It was all browns and earthen tones, but it had the basic look of a kimono, only more like a gypsy theme to it. Her kimono –if you could call it that- was a off white with a golden obi that had a raccoon sewn around it in a deeper gold thread. Her feet were bare and she had no sleeves. She wore golden armlets and anklets and bangles and manacles, even wearing an exquisite choker that covered most of her neck._

_Her hair was to her shoulder blades and she bothered not with any hair ornaments, save one that wrapped around her head and a let a diamond dangle on her forehead._

_She had the same rings around her eyes, but they only looked like a darker color of her very tan skin. She had no eyebrows either, but she had taken to drawing them on with a brown color that matched her attire._

_Her eyes, golden eyes with black hourglasses in them were as reflective as nicely polished gold. Matching her golden accessories in their gleam._

_She had markings going up and down her body, but like her rings around her eyes, they were not black but dark enough to make them noticeable from a distance._

_She had a single possession that she held onto. It was a golden staff with a raccoon on top, its tail forming a closed circle around and above it and nine golden rings held within the tail circle._

_But the thing that really drew a familiarity was the single ringed coon tail and the matching coon ears that rested where a human's ears did._

_"Shukaku," Gaara said, realizing who this woman was right off the bat._

**_"Gaara, love," _**_She replied calmly as she took her fingers and traced his jaw gently with her claw like fingernails, **"We have a lot to talk about, love."**_

_"I have nothing to talk to you about, Shukaku."_

**_"Do I look like a blood thirsty drunk with a habit to ramble on and on about how you don't kill enough anymore? Or am I trying to hold a conversation with you about what has occurred? Think carefully on this. Depending on your answer, I will let you wake up or not. After we have a chat of course, love."_**

_Gaara blinked as he realized that she _was_ not doing her regular rants, acting like a drunk at her peak of potency, or telling him to seek blood._

_"What do you want?" He said after a minute, looking at her with a glare._

_She just put her hand to her heart and looked wounded, acting of course, but still getting her point across as she spoke. **"Gaara, love, that really hurts that you would be so short with me. I am trying to have a civilized conversation about what has occurred to us."**_

_"Us?"_

**_"Yes, us, love. I am apart of you, so if something occurs to me, it occurs to you and vise-versa. Right now I have been purified by the Kitsune Miko."_**

_"Who," Gaara asked, raising a brow in question._

**_"I believe you humans call her Kyuubi, as you call me Ichibi."_**_ Shukaku said as she struck a thinking pose, her tail waving wildly in the background._

_"So you were purified? Then why are you not gone? You are the very entity of evil." Gaara said, his temper making the heat in the desert rise._

_Shukaku pouted as she crossed her arms and smashed her brows together, **"That's mean. I am not the very entity of evil! I am the Tanuki Miko. The very entity of the earth element! I had been pure for my whole life until this last century and a half."**_

_"Then what happened? If you use to be pure, why did you change?"_

**_"Life sometimes leads us to places we never thought possible. I was purifying a dark spirit one moment, then called a demon myself the next and before I knew it was rudely sealed into a black kettle with at least five dark spirits. I spent fifty years with them and they managed to merge with me and ruin my purity with their negative energy. Until a couple minutes ago, I was the same Shukaku you knew."_**

_"I see," Gaara said as he crossed his arms and nodded, "So what has become of us in this after affect? I notice there is a difference in my mindscape, so what is to expect?"_

**_"Well, since you and I are practically two souls in one body with your soul being the dominate one, you will have a lot of changes to your appearance because of my purification. Since the seal only merges our chakra and does not regulate the amount, then most likely you have received a lot more of my abilities and I can probably take form in the real world though your sand."_**

_"I see. What about this temple?"_

**_"It is my home, but also is your hall of memories and thoughts. Trust me, it is better to leave them be. I think that is all for now. Unlike the Kitsune Miko, we do not have all the time in the world to gabber like school girls, you fell asleep in real life and people will start panicking if they find you that way, so off you go and wake up! I will be there soon enough. Enjoy your changes!"_**

And before he could even respond to her, he found himself being pull out of his mindscape and back into the hospital room.

He stood up and stretched and looked around the room feeling oddly refreshed. There was no one other then himself and the sleeping Naruto, so he took the liberty of using the sink on the other side of the room. He didn't look at the mirror as he turned on the water and rinsed his face, but the curiosity of what Shukaku had said made him look up.

He did just that, looking at his new. It was different. Before hand he was the palest Suna nin with black rings around his eyes and red hair. Now, his skin had darkened to a normal tan color that Suna nin's were famous for. His hair had grown longer in such a short time and was even darker red then before and was about as long as Naruto's hair was.

The black rings around his eyes had lightened incredibly. They were still dark, but they appeared to be a few shades darker then his new skin color. The other skin that was visible also had new shadowed like markings that looked like raccoon strips. Not black, but like a shadowed version, as if it was only deeper tanned colored skin.

**"See, I told you, you'd look different,"** Shukaku's voice resonated in the room.

"It is just a lot to take in," Gaara said, not even turning to look for her.

He heard her laughed silkily as his gourd on his back slipped off his back and took Shukaku's form. She just walked happily over to Naruto's body and stroked his hair lightly.

**"Seems that he has begun to change as well. I can see the white roots. He will inherit her hair color I guess. Shame, he is a cute blonde." **She mused as she used her tail to twist the IV with the medications shut, **"Let's cut him off from the drugs. His soul seems agitated in being kept still too long."**

"Don't touch anything you shouldn't, Shukaku," Gaara ordered, finally turning around.

She just stared up at him with a blank face before smiling and chirping, **"Oops, too late."**

"You are being insufferable."

**"I bet you say that to all the ladies in your life,"** Shukaku stated as she sat down on the chair he had once been sitting in.

He would have snapped at her about that, maybe lashing out his sand at her, but at that moment he couldn't. For two reasons.

One, he couldn't hurt her with his sand since she was currently using _his _sand to hold a form.

The second reason was because Tsunade at the time came bursting in the room with Shikamaru on her heels and her ANBU lurking around the whole building. The Mongoose masked ANBU was lounging at the window as to make sure no one could escape and even think they would have a chance to live.

Tsunade had not fully paid attention to Gaara as she glared at the female sitting idly near Naruto's body.

**"Oh good! Come in, sit down, and do seal the doors with locks and soundproof seals. We don't want prying ears to hear anything that would be ill of their health. Right Gaara, love?"** Shukaku beamed as she looked Gaara's way.

Tsunade actually glanced at Gaara, her eyes widening at the noticeable change he had undergone.

"Mongoose, Cat, Shikamaru, get in here. Mongoose, set up the locks. Cat, set up the soundproofing seals." Tsunade ordered as she pointed to Shukaku, "And you, who the hell are you?"

**"Soundproof first, then kiss and tell."** Shukaku corrected the Hokage, not bothering to look upset or unnerved in anyway.

Within seconds the seals were placed and all the people who needed to be in the room were settled.

"Shikamaru, the only reason you are here is because of what you witnessed," Tsunade said as she sat on the bed, running her fingers through Naruto's hair and looking at him affectionately.

**"You love the child as if he was your own. Be wary about that. It tends to make others jealous."**

"Again, who the hell are you?"

"She's the ichibi, isn't she? Gaara-san," Shikamaru said as he looked at the Suna ninja, "She's using your sand gourd to hold form, isn't she?"

All eyes rested on Gaara as he wordlessly nodded.

**"Don't worry about lil' ole' me. I am as harmless as a mouse," **she said with a smile, then with an after thought added, **"well, expect when I'm drunk… But we really aren't going there right now."**

"Shukaku, get on with it. Tell them what you need to tell them." Gaara commanded the coon.

**"Fine,"** She snuffed angrily,** "Ruin my fun. My name isn't Shukaku by the way. That is a terrible name that you all named me because you thought I was a drunken tanuki. My name is Kousa no Haitsuchi." **

"Alright Kousa," Tsunade said as she acknowledge this change, "Please continue though. We need to know what caused you to become… 'as harmless as a mouse'."

Kousa composed her self and too a look around the room before she began to clear her throat. Her tail rested on her lap and she began to pet it as she talked.

**"I really shouldn't be telling you all this without the Head of the Mikos able to participate, but she is currently… busy. The nine tailed-beasts –as you know us as- were once all pure mikos. But as only time does, each of us eventually fell into darkness till only one remained pure and then even she became darkened in the last century."**

"Who was that?"

**"Shiroi no Akari," **Kousa said and added a dramatic pause as she looked over at Naruto, **"She is the Fox Priestess of Light… The Kyuubi; Naruto's Bijuu."

* * *

**

"Who the hell is Naruto?" Jiri asked, looking curiously at the name that continually appeared in the documents.

"Who the hell is Hinata?" Hancock said, asking a question for a question.

Jiri sighed heavily.

"You know, I really don't care as long as these are the last of the documents that old bag sends us."

"Amen," Hancock said, raising a fist in the air.

* * *

Shikamaru noticed the whole room grow quiet, Cat, Mongoose, and Tsunade casting him a worried look to how he would react to what Kousa had said.

He had already figured out that Naruto had the Kyuubi. He was a freaking genius with an IQ over 200, so of course he had figured it out by the chuunin exams. It was easy to put together once he saw the red chakra during Naruto's fight with Neji.

He just looked at his Kage and shrugged with a long sigh, "Too troublesome to matter. Naruto is Naruto. This Shiroi is Shiroi. Nothing else to it really."

"But you just heard that Naruto was a container for the giant fox that slaughtered out people thirteen years ago." Cat said, tilting her head in confusion, "Doesn't that surprise you?"

"Nah, I figured it out at the chuunin exams," The lazy Nara said with a shrug, "I could care less if he had my mom sealed within him. Naruto will still be Naruto."

With his last statement, Mongoose and Kousa cracked up.

**"Your mom that much of a monster, little dear?" **Kousa asked between bouts of laughter.

"That woman is more troublesome then any other woman alive," Shikamaru said with a sigh.

Everything went quiet for a moment as everyone stared at Naruto's sleeping form. Shikamaru's mind running at a hundred miles an hour trying to finish putting in all the pieces of the puzzle that he had gathered from Kousa.

"So, the Kyuubi is actually a miko, Naruto is her container, she purified you through Naruto, which means somehow she became pure herself, and something is going down and Naruto is the middle of it all." Shika summed up as he looked to Tsunade, "I know its troublesome to ask, but I want in on it all. Though he is an idiot, I found that he cares for others, no matter how troublesome. He has won my respect and I will follow him to the ends of the earth."

"Why is that?" Gaara asked, quirking a brow in wonder.

"Because, that troublesome blonde is going to be a great leader someday, and I decided I wanted to be apart of that future. Even if it is troublesome."

Tsunade looked at Shikamaru for a minute before stroking Naruto's hair again. She looked sad to Shikamaru and it made him wonder if the stack of documents had anything to do with it.

"Well, he's not going to be able to become the leader here," She finally relented, getting curious stares from Gaara and Shikamaru, "He has been banned from Konoha by the council."

"I have?" a voice croaked out, Naruto's eyes opening and looking wounded at the news.

"Naruto!" Tsunade said as she engulfed him in a hug, "How are you feeling?"

"Squished," He mumbled as he squirmed a bit, until she let go and sat normally on his bed, "And confused and dizzy."

"How are you even awake? I had you in a medical coma," Tsunade said as she stroked his hair again.

**"Um, that was me actually, child. I turned off the drugs since his soul looked a wee restless,"** Kousa admitted as she raised her had a bit and gave a guilty grin.

"The Kyuubi burnt off the rest of the medicine in my body. She was able to wake me up for a couple minutes earlier to cleanse Shukaku's soul, but couldn't keep me awake. But it seems the drugs were turned off, so she finally was able to clean my whole system of it." Naruto said as he sat up and stretched a bit.

He then looked at Tsunade with those blue eyes begging for her to repeat what she had said when he had woken up.

"Naruto," Tsunade said as she kissed his forehead lightly, "Because of the rules set in motion during the Shodai's time, the council has more powers when a new Hokage is put into office for about a year. They are allowed to decide who needs to be banished and who needs to be killed or forgiven. The majority of the council voted to ban you. The high clan council members and the two advisors of the Hokage were against it, but were heavily out numbered."

"I see," Naruto said in a unusual calm tone, "Kyuubi-chan said something like that might occur. She predicted their anger at me and warned me about them making such a decision. So, how long?"

"You have a week to pack and leave. I have some things I need to do, but trust me, I will not leave you alone." Tsunade promised as she looked at her pseudo-son.

"Tsunade," Shikamaru said as he spoke up, "If Naruto is getting banished... you will need to banish me too."

"What?" Naruto asked as he looked up at the lazy Nara, "Why? Why would you go to such great lengths for me? Being banished is a _bad_ think Shika."

"Yeah, I know. Its troublesome, but I made it my nindo not to fail or abandon my teammates, friends, or leaders. I know who my teammates are, but I know who my future leader is going to be and I refuse to have anyone else except for you, troublesome as it may be."

Naruto just stared at the Nara for a moment before a smile, a real smile, crept its way on his face, "Thanks Shika."

"Don't worry about it," Shikamaru said before sighing, "Telling my mother that I am going to join an idiot who is being banished will be a drag though."

That just made everyone but Gaara and Shikamaru laugh.

"I am glad you are awake, Naruto." Gaara addressed him, "and I thank you for purifying Kousa for me, but my family expects me back soon, so I must say goodbye."

With that he bowed and exited the door, after removing the lock.

Kousa, being the more social of the two, hopped up and grabbed Naruto's hand and shook it happily.

**"Thanks a million, kit! I haven't felt this good since the time I won that poker game back in the day against Nibs. Tell Shiroi to hurry up and go purify that ole' cat so I can have my poker buddy back."**

And with that, she turned into sand and it slinked away back to Gaara.

"So that was Shukaku?" Naruto asked as he looked at the door both had exited from.

"Yes," Shikamaru groaned, "and the total opposite from Gaara, how troublesome."

Tsunade sighed as she got up and patted Naruto on the face lightly, "I'm glad your up, but I have to get back to the office and now work Shikamaru into my plans."

Naruto looked curiously at her while her smile only widened, "If those over stuffed pompous windbags on the council think that they can keep here after banishing the _only_ reason I came back, then they are off their rocker. I plan to screw them over so hard that their dead relatives can feel it."

"But what about everyone else? You can't leave with everyone else still here! What about Sakura, Ino, Hinata, Tenten, Chouji, Neji, Lee, Kiba, and Shino and their families? Or what about Ayame and her father? Konohamaru? Or what about Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, Gai-sensei, Kurenai-sensei, Asuma-sensei, or even that creepy snake lady that feeds me sometimes?"

Tsunade looked over to Mongoose, "You feed him?"

"On occasion," Mongoose said with a shrug.

"Oh," Naruto nervously chirped, "Hi Anko… didn't know you worked as Tsunade's ANBU…"

"She pushed me out of a window because of you," Anko said pointing at the blonde in the bed, "It was utterly humiliating trying to figure out what to tell everybody!"

"Well," Tsunade said as she started to drag Shikamaru out of the room, her ANBU following immediately, "We must be going. I will have Shizune check up on you so you can be release. And Naruto," her voice grew very serious as she stared at him with her beryl eyes, "I would never hurt those you hold close, as long as they don't hurt you."

And with that she closed the door and left Naruto to his thoughts.

_'Why did you never tell me your name is Shiroi?'_

**_'Honestly? You never asked.'_**

At that moment, Naruto flopped back down onto his pillow and tried to forget how dumb he felt.

* * *

"…What the _hell_? More paperwork? Doesn't that woman care for the environment?"

"Or us?" Hancock added with a heavy sigh, "I can't believe we have even _more _work then usual. Whoever this Shikamaru guy is better watch it when I finish looking through all these paper about him. If I see him, I might be threatened to feed him to Calsifer."

"You always say that about everybody. 'I'll feed you to Calsifer,' sheesh, get a new line- Oh wait," Jiri said, holding up a note to read, "The _Hokage_ left us a note… it says-"

* * *

Naruto looked sad as he looked at the gates of Konoha. He was about to leave.

The week had been rough on him. At first, he discovered that his whisker marks were changing to match Shiroi's, so he had to keep bandages on his face to hide them. The was difficult since he half the time wanted to take them off on a subconscious scale.

Secondly was all the reactions that he had received from his friends.

When Sakura saw him, she started bawling and hugged him while pleading for him to allow her to take back her request. After a while of trying to calm her down, he had told her that he would no longer look for Sasuke, but if he did run across him, he would still send him back to Konoha with a pretty bow on him too.

That had cheered her up. They had talked for a while, during which, she had apologized to him and he told her what was going on.

And that meant _everything._

That only made her cry more.

After a while, they finally bid each other goodbye and Naruto went off to go talk to his other friends.

Neji, Tenten, Lee, and Gai-sensei were wall very upset, but promised to have his back.

He had run across Ino at her flower shop. He had gone there to give her father something as thanks and got to talking to her. She had been really surprised when Naruto came walking in with a rare Firefox flower in full bloom and looking as healthy as all get out.

He had told her that her father gave it to him as a way to give him focus and a sense of responsibility.

"It is one of the pickiest, hardest plants to raise, but it is beautiful," He said as he looked at the blossom, "The trick is putting chakra into it. The plant's picky, but if you add chakra to the water, it'll stay healthy."

After her father came to the front of the store, Naruto left him with instructions and a huge bag of seeds from the flower.

Asuma-sensei and Chouji took him out for food after hearing what was happening. Saying that he didn't know when Naruto would be able to enjoy a meal so he should enjoy one now.

Kurenai-sensei, Kiba, and Shino both seemed agitated by the news, but it seems their parents had already heard. They encouraged him to go talk to Hinata though since she was acting really strange.

Naruto only saw Hinata once. She looked at him with those pearl eyes and started crying. Naruto, never being one for leaving a girl to cry alone, hugged her and petted her hair (Shiroi's idea) and talked to her as she cried.

"Please Naruto-kun," Hinata managed to murmur, "D-d-d-don't get hurt. I w-w-wouldn't know wh-wh-what to do if you died! I admire you."

And after those words she disappeared. Naruto was assured by Shiroi that shy girls tend to do that if they get embarrassed.

Iruka-sensei treated him to ramen.

So did the ramen owners.

Kakashi-sensei apologized and promised that he would one day right the wrong.

Jiraya decided that he would give him the whole collection to Icha Icha, which Naruto just gave to Ebisu for kicks. He did get a laugh at the nosebleed the guy had.

Konohamaru corps cried, but he made them feel better by teaching them a chakra control exercise.

Naruto looked around. He had said goodbye to everyone he had held dear, so now all that was left was to leave. Unknown to anyone but the Hokage and watchmen was that he was leaving at the stroke of midnight, so not to attract attention.

Tsunade and Shizune wanted to see him off, but he said no, telling them if they were there, he would never be able to leave. So he was heading off on his own with only his things and a Kitsune Miko that lived him his body.

He sighed as he flung his backpack on his back and started to walk out the Konoha gate.

"Hey guys," Naruto said, remembering something last minute.

Both guards looked at him curiously as he stripped his head of his forehead protector and threw it at them.

"When Konohamaru graduates the Academy, give it to him okay?" He asked them with a pleading look to his eyes.

Both just smiled and nodded to his request, "You bet! The squirt will have a fit over it too!"

That only made Naruto smile. If he had to leave, might as well leave with a smile.

"By the way," Naruto said, "Tell Baa-chan I'm sorry, but it was too funny to resist!!!"

Both guards looked at him funny, but knew better then to question what the infamous Naruto- the king of pranks- had done. With that, Naruto took a deep breath and ran out of the gates, full speed and never looked back.

"That boy has guts," Izumo said with a grin.

"The most unpredictably ninja in the world," Kotetsu said with a grin on his face, "Five bucks says he will be just fine and we'll hear about him eventually."

"Your on," Izumo said, "Even though I know your currently penniless."

"Never play poker with that kid. Ever."

-

Naruto slammed against another tree as he stumbled across the tree limbs, wounded and in danger.

He had only been away from Konoha for a maximum of five days and he already had ANBU trying to do him in. He made another mad dash across the trees, trying to lose them, but they were too well trained to be lost.

He gritted his teeth at this obvious weakness of his. He had grown complacent in believing that the jounin he usually outran were status quo and that he was faster. These ANBU made most Jounin look like idiots.

"Hurry," One said as they threw a kunai that embedded itself in Naruto's shoulder, "He is tiring."

Naruto cursed as he ran into a open field. He was out in the open and was probably surrounded by now.

His legs gave out as he crashed on the ground, Shiroi having a panic attack inside his head as she worked on healing his wounds.

The ANBU had circled around him, all with blank masks, looking like the Shinigamis ready for the kill.

However, before anyone moved, a large cloud of smoke rolled in and covered the area.

"So," One voice said sounding highly amused, "You thought since the poor boy was alone, that you could defy your Kage's orders."

"Well," the other voice said smoothly, "You were wrong. We have been sent to make sure no harm comes to the boy, by our clan head's orders."

"So, I guess this means we get to have a little fun, right?"

"Yes, we do." The other voice said simply.

With that, two figures appeared in the smoke, their features shadowed by the heaviness of the grey clouds of ash. The ANBU never seemed to know what hit them as each one was wiped out, like they were nothing but lambs being slaughtered by lions.

Naruto could tell one was using an umbrella with a hidden sword by the way the person would sheath and unsheath the hidden blade and the other was using something very… unique.

It looked like a lantern and a staff with a hook at the top that held the lantern, smoke still rolling out of the lantern and thickening the thick clouds.

In all of five minutes, the ANBU were dead and the smoke had begun the thin, now that the smoke stopped rolling out of the lantern.

The two forms began to take shape and Naruto couldn't believe his eyes as he observed the features of the two forms.

His saviors looked like two of the legendary sannin… except…

"HEY!" Naruto yelled pointing at the two of them, "You can't use Oiroke no jutsu, you old perverts! That's copywrited!!!!"

After that small comment, both look incredibly ticked.

"That's it. Feed him to Calsifer."

* * *

You know my standard end notes:

How did you like this? Better as the chapters get longer?

Excited?

Did you like the Shikamaru thing?

What did you think about Kousa?

What do you think of the Jiri & Hancock moments?

The how about end?

Shiroi means white. Thank you Shizuka Taiyou for the name suggestion. I liked it the moment I tried it out. Though I want to thank Dragon Man 180 for the names he offered too!!

Kousa means golden sands. Just thought that would work for her!

So once again we must part for update! I thank you all for your reviews! They make me feel very special! lol!

_Bows_ Please take care of my story, it is in your hands to make or break (no useless flames, only ones that will help make this better please. Will delete the ones that are **useless** bashing of my writing)

Ja Ne

Volleys-chan


	4. Chapter 4

Wow... WOW. I have never had such a feedback in my whole entire life. Now I want to say something about a review I had received... or two.

One. I don't have the patience for a beta. They take too long for me, or at least the ones I had before. So I will just do my best, tell me if I misspell a name or something or accidently use a homonym of a word on accident, like there and their. I do that when I am on a roll, but I do try to reread everything and make sure that ugly red squiggly isn't under the word... Like a lot of people need to do...

Two. Yes. I have OC. Yes. They will be playing a key part in the story because it is what separates _my_ story from all the rest. Well... just one part. But I wanted them because... well you'll find out later. I will continue discussing this when you have actually met Hancock and Jiri.

Now repeat with me... again:

FAN FICTION

I will be changing things, so don't go crying to me if you are mad about something. I have done the damage already and will not withdraw any changes to the characters. For warning: I **will** save the characters I want even if I have to use some far out there story that might occur to get them in the bloody story. I have it all worked out in my head already and am not willing to compromise in the least. I am keeping to the rules, so there.

Enjoy

* * *

_**From Under the Kage's Hat**_

_Chapter 4_

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto now or ever. Not even for a moment last chapter or this chapter or any chapter I write. Perfect LionHeart owns the writing challenge.**

* * *

"That's it. Feed him to Calsifer."

"I think that not wise, he will be agitated that he actually was summoned to eat Naruto-san."

Naruto blinked as he just stared at the two, obviously confused to their displeasure.

"Well? Aren't you ero-sennin?" Naruto asked the woman with the white hair.

She growled as she glared at him, swinging her umbrella at him so that the tip was pointing at him, "What the hell makes you think that I am that perverted old codger? Hell, do I look like a old man well into my fifties with a serious peeping problem?"

"I don't know," Naruto admitted, "It's hard to really see you two with the smoke. So you guys aren't Orochimaru-teme or Ero-sennin?"

"NO!" both snapped angrily.

"Don't you dare compare me to that unrefined, arrogant snake. I am serve a more nobler summon then those petty snake fiends," The Orochimaru look-a-like growled.

"Clear the smoke so he can see us better, Hancock," The albino ordered, still trying to not beat the child over the head with her umbrella… repeatedly.

"Of course, Jiri," The pale woman nodded as she waved her lantern a bit, the smoke being pulled back within.

Naruto squinted as the sun glared in his face, not use to it anymore since the smoke had dimmed it. He eventually overcame it and was able to look at the two in front of him.

They both did look like the two male Sannin, but it was obvious from just the way they held themselves they were not.

Jiri- the white haired female- had Jiraya's type of hair as it was messy and spiky and when whatever way it wished, most of her long however being held in a high pony tail. Two strands that cover each ear tied to stay out of the way.

Her skin was his color and she even had the two red strips on her face, but her features were like a finely crafted doll, no blemishes that Jiraya had. Her eyes were beryl. A golden honey brown with a familiar air of confidence he had only seen in one woman before.

She also had the hugest bust he had ever seen besides his Obaa-chan's. Her outfit was a short red sleeveless kimono that stopped mid thigh, a black breastplate made of thick black leather strapped around her torso, and forest green obi with a white cloth cord tided around her waist. With mesh shorts underneath stopping at her knees. She had sleeves tied two inches down on her arm.

Her legs had shin guards with two belts on each to keep them strapped on and fishnet stockings and Geta on her feet. She had several strips of red on her upper arms slightly above her sleeves, one whole circular ring of red on each of her legs, right below her knees and two other strips on each leg usually ending halfway around her legs and the other starting where the last one stopped.

Not only did she have a deep red umbrella, but a huge scroll.

Hancock- the pale skinned woman- had Orochimaru's straight and silky jet-black hair. However, she had it in some elegant hairstyle. She had golden yellow eyes with slit irises, just like Orochimaru, but her eyelids had a darker purple color to it. She had his pale skin; only hers was more ivory then his and looked more elegant in her features.

She had a lantern hanging on the staff hanging off of small piece of metal.

She had a similar outfit, though she wore kitten heels instead of getas and her colors where more shades of purple with a golden obi. She only had one marking, which her sister had as well.

The same mark that Tsunade had on her forehead:

The Genesis rebirth.

"Who… Who are you? You have Baa-chan's diamond seal!" Naruto gasped as he stared at their foreheads.

Both glanced at each other, not minding the dead bodies of the ANBU at their feet, before looking back at Naruto.

"We are from the Senju clan. The twin daughters of Senju Tsunade."

* * *

"Tsunade," a voice interrupted the busy woman.

She looked up to see Jiraiya. Her smile slightly graced her face as she motioned him to sit, still working on her paperwork.

Jiraiya took a seat, still looking at her with a concerned look. She knew what he was about to say, but pretended not to know as the man rung his hands nervously.

"I'm worried about Naruto," He finally confessed, holding his breath and waiting for the fireworks.

"I understand your concern, but it is unfounded. I have sent my own contacts to collect him and take care of him until my business here is finished up." Tsunade said as she finished filling out a large amount of paper work, "While you are leaving, take that stack over there to Hiashi and tell him to sign where it dictates."

"What are you waiting for Tsunade?" Jiraiya continued as if not interrupted, "Are you not worried for him?"

Tsunade paused for a moment before setting down her pen and turning her honey colored eyes at Jiraiya. They seemed to burn with some sort of pride that he had never seen in her eyes before. A smile crept its way on her face as she straightened up and seemed to radiate confidence.

"These contacts will not fail me. I have nothing to worry about; they will take good care of Naruto. As for what I am doing here…" Her smile twisted happily, making Jiraiya uncomfortable, "I am getting my sweet revenge."

She looked out her window, looking at the Hokage monument, the construction of her face beginning to take form. Her eyes snapped back onto Jiraiya.

"Trust me, I have everything planned out. Naruto had to sign a crap load of documents, so when I do leave, I will be bringing him more then he even expected… but it takes time… so I have to wait…"

Jiraiya saw her pain. She had fallen in love with Naruto and had taken him on as if he was her little boy, her only child. Jiraiya sighed as he rubbed his head with his hand.

"Tsunade, I know he is the closest thing that you have to having a child, but please don't go overboard… too much."

Tsunade just looked at him a moment before smiling a strange smile and nodding, "I won't over do it, just give them what's coming… But I need to know if I can count on you, Jiraiya."

"Hime, I will always have your back, just tell me what you need done."

"Good, then you will be taking my place as regent. I have about one more month of work to finish, but after that, I will leave with a small team of loyal shinobi to catch up with Naruto."

"Why didn't you just leave with him then?"

"Because, though I want to be with him… but right now my job is to protect him, so I have to finish this. Then I can be with him again… and maybe make up for past sins." Tsunade said as she stared off, her mind jumbled with many troubling thoughts.

Jiraiya knew it was time to leave, so he nodded and stood up.

"I understand Hime, I will trust in you."

"Thank you Jiraiya." Tsunade said before she returned to her work, "But that doesn't mean you get to leave without the paper work for Hiashi-sama."

Jiraiya laughed lightly as he rubbed the back of his head with a guilty expression, "and after I tried so hard too."

* * *

"What!?!" Naruto yelled as he pointed at the twins, "Baa-chan has daughters!!!"

"I see she still speaks little of us," Hancock said as she turned to her sister.

"More like nothing of us," Jiri growled.

"But you," he pointed at Hancock, "look like Orochimaru! And you," he pointed at Jiri, "look like Jiraiya! How can you be twins!"

"Our mother is the top medic in the entire world!" Jiri snapped, "Don't you think she could figure out how to have two different men's children at once?"

"I didn't even know that was possible!!!!" Naruto confessed.

"My sister and I are test tube babies," Hancock clarified, the blank stare on Naruto's face made her go into further detail, "It means that Tsunade harvested eggs from her womb and then used sperm samples she had taken to fertilize the eggs in a test tube. Once they were each fertilized, she injected the fertilized eggs back into her womb. The chance that she would have twins wasn't high though so she did not expect it."

"In fact," Jiri said a bit grudgingly, "She had three samples, from Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Dan… but the samples got mixed up and one was destroyed. She thought that maybe one would be Dan's so she just used the last two… Of course everybody knows she has no amount of luck whatsoever."

"So she got you two instead of Dan's child?" Naruto said, his face giving away his emotions.

"Yeah," Jiri said with an angry expression, "She was kind to us, somewhat motherly at best, but she will never treat us like she would if we were Dan's child… or even you."

"Jiri," Hancock rebuked, "Don't say unnecessary things to the child."

Jiri looked at him to see what her mother saw in the child she only spoke well of. The child she was sticking her neck out for. The one who healed her.

Her! Tsunade! Her mother! The one she had always wanted to help overcome her anger, her fears, and sorrows… But this child had done it in her stead. And he wasn't even her child, just some sick pseudo-son…

No. Jiri knew that Tsunade was his legal guardian now. He was her child now. It said so in all the paperwork she had gone through.

But she still wanted to see what kind of child he was.

He seemed sorry, sad, and he even looked… Sympathetic.

"I never knew my parents." He confessed, "So, I'm sorry. I never had a mother to have precious moments with… I'm sorry I stole yours."

"All is well Naruto," Hancock said with a smile, "You did something we could not. Jiri is just a tad bit bitter about it, but we are truly grateful for you helping her."

"Yeah," Jiri grumbled.

Naruto was at a loss of words as he just looked down at the ground. Shiroi refused to give him advise, saying it best he used his own unique way of handling these kinds of things because she wasn't able to level with them since she had always been.

Jiri was lost at what to do. This child was really playing at her motherly instincts; even though she was only 16, she had always been the more motherly.

"When I was six, I split my head open. My mother was the first on the scene and she froze. Shizune was right after her and did not hesitate to collect me and heal me. My mother was in shock for days. I had to drown myself in heavy smells because she could smell the blood and it made her freeze. I had vowed after that to help her, but I never could," Jiri said as she walked up to the 13 year old, crouched down next to him and rested her hand on his head, "In one day, you fixed what took me years to realize I could not. Would it be okay if I get to know you? To understand?"

Naruto only stared at her for a moment before a soft smile graced his face and his eyes gentled, "Yeah. I would like that."

"Good, then you are going to call us Onee-san," Hancock ordered in her cool tone before turning away and beginning to walk out of the field, "Let's leave this place. It stinks of blood."

Jiri just looked at Naruto with a smirk before saying, "Already won over Hancock, I am impressed."

"Arigato… I think…" Naruto said with a confused look on his face.

Jiri just laughed as she got up and began to follow her sister, "Come on little brother, we need to get to the next village soon so we can give you a bath."

"A bath? Why do I need a bath? I took a bath this morning!" Naruto yelled after her as he too got up and ran to catch up.

"Because," Jiri said with a mischievous look, "You reek of blood, sweat, and slightly of cheap smut books. You _need_ a bath."

* * *

Hinata sat nervously in front of her father as he looked through the papers. He would tell her where to sign, but other then that there was not a word spoken between them.

She was nervous, scared, and trying hard not to tremble.

Her father looked up at her, finishing the last stroke of his name on the last paper. He looked like his usual self, but being a Hyuuga allowed Hinata to realize her father was upset and uneasy.

"Hinata," He said breaking the long lasting silence.

"Yes Father?" She asked quietly, working hard not to stutter in front of him.

"I have finished signing. Please, go get your things from your room and take these documents to Tsunade-sama." He paused, looking for the words to say, "I believe you will be a wonderful medic. Please… fulfill your dreams."

That lifted up her heavy heart as she smiled at him and bowed, "You too Father. I love you."

She left the room to go retrieve her things, hearing what her father probably didn't think she could.

"I love you too, my daughter." He whispered.

Though it was hard. She knew that this was necessary. She could not stay where Naruto was rejected. She grabbed her things from her room and entered her father's office to pick up the documents. He just looked at her as she took the papers, bowed at the door, and was forever out of his hands.

For some strange reason, Hinata stood upright and proud as she left the gates of the Hyuuga clan. The weight of her clan finally lifted from her shoulders. She knew she was never coming back…

But for her, that was okay.

* * *

Shikamaru sighed as he finished grabbing his things and headed down to glance at his father. They had finished the paperwork in the Hokage's office the day before and Shikamaru had stayed one last night with his parents because his troublesome mother wouldn't stop crying.

He sighed as he headed out the door. She was gone at the moment so now was a better time then ever just to slip into the Hokage's office and temporarily move in with the Senju.

His father gave him a crappy goodbye and had managed to keep the best shougi board they had for himself. Shikamaru couldn't help but grumble since that was his favorite board, but the one he had sealed away was just as good, but not like the board his father had.

"What a drag," the Nara sighed as he finally picked up his pace to head for the office.

He cut through the market area just to smile. Naruto had done the greatest prank of all. He even put a new meaning to defacing public and private property alike.

Every one of the shops that had kicked him out, sold him bad merchandise, or even called him a demon, had found all their doors, windows, and even mail slots glued shut.

Oh but not with just regular glue. Now that would not be Naruto if he didn't use the best materials. It was known as Insanity glue. The hardest glue to remove and not even a ninja, unless it was Tsunade herself, could open those doors with that stuff on it.

Showed them who not to ban.

Shikamaru couldn't help but snigger a bit as he noticed most of the doors had been smashed in to enter the place. That was going to be some serious damage repairs, but they all deserved it.

As he drew near the Hokage's office, he made sure to enter from one of the doors. Naruto had been kind enough to glue Tsunade's windows shut because of her continual complaining about 'ninjas not knowing how to use doors'. And she wasn't about to remove the glue anytime soon.

He slowed down his speed to a walking pace since he would be there soon enough and just stared up at the clouds. Maybe while he traveled, he could see different types of clouds. That sounded nice.

It didn't surprise him when he saw Hinata walking towards the Hokage's office as will with a packed up bag resting on her shoulders. Something had just seemed right about her not standing for Naruto's banning.

"Hey Hinata," Shikamaru called out to the girl, picking up his pace to catch up to her.

"Shikamaru-san," She said with a surprise, "What are you doing here?"

Not one stutter. She still sounded timid, but she had been working on it, or maybe she just wasn't as nervous as before.

"Going to see the Hokage. Just like you."

Hinata seemed to understand exactly what he meant once she looked at his bag once more. She smiled sweetly at him before taking his hand and tugging him a bit.

"Then let's not make her wait," She said with a happy smile.

Wow. She had really changed now that she didn't have the clan constantly breathing down her neck. However, he guessed her determination to meet up with Naruto again was her main drive.

_'I will be stronger, Naruto-kun'_ Hinata thought as she headed inside, still tugging Shikamaru along.

_'Why are all women so Troublesome?'_ Shika thought to himself as he realized yet another woman was ordering him around.

* * *

Naruto was a little upset at the fact that they had to turn around completely and head the opposite way, but that was how life was so after a couple minutes of pouting, getting pinched on the cheek for pouting, and then getting shoved into the nearest river for pouting about being pinched, he got over it.

He decided to ask a lot of question from Jiri and Hancock to get to know them better and they answered without any hesitation.

Jiri was the motherly type, but wasn't a push over. She disciplined as much as she praised. She hated perverts and could pretty much smell a smutty book from a mile way. She was a writer, but what made Naruto laugh even harder was that she was that female romanticist that Jiraiya always complained about. Her books sometimes stole away his audience and there wasn't a piece of smut in hers.

Heck, Naruto didn't even have the heart tell the guy he had the entire collection of Rebirth, Jiri's book series, hidden away under his bed.

But what he found hilarious was the fact that Jiraiya's own daughter was a better writer then that pervert.

Hancock, or as he found out she liked to be called Hana, was nothing like Orochimaru. She was quiet, calculating, a pure genius, yes. But she was open, friendly, and wouldn't look at you like you were a waste of air or her precious time. She answered Naruto's questions with as much information as she could.

He discovered that she had an English male name, which is why she preferred her middle name; had a contract with dragons, her favorite was a western dragon named Calsifer; and she was absolute terrified of snakes.

Naruto had to stop himself at laughing at the irony of it all. Orochimaru's only daughter was terrified of the very thing he adored.

"It is because of him that I hate snakes." Hancock said with a blush, "I prefer dragons any day too."

She also told him that she was trying to undo the wrongs of her father because she was not like him and wanted people to know that. It wasn't until Naruto started asking the hard questions did things really make sense to how no one spoke of them.

"So, what does ero-sennin and snake-teme think of you two?" Naruto asked, noticing how both looked at him.

"They don't know about us, Naruto," Hancock said with a sigh.

"They don't?"

"Yeah, Tsunade thought it would be best that way. She was trying to build up the nerve to tell then when she was pregnant, but she lost it when she noticed how involved they were with other things. Having a pervert as a dad wasn't what she wanted for us. As for Orochimaru…" Jiri's voice died down as she tried to think of something to say.

"Was already showing signs of betrayal," Hancock finished, "A mother intuition if you must call it that, but she was wise not to tell them."

"But…"

"It is what it is, Naruto, and my sister and I do not regret it," Hancock said with a shrug, "we have lived a very long time without fathers so we are content to live as we have."

"Plus, I hate perverts, why would I want one as a dad?" Jiri chipped in with a goofy grin.

Naruto seemed to accept it. All of them had not grown up with a father, and for that, they were able to level with each other. So after a while of silence, Naruto began to question them again.

"So, what rank are you guys?" Naruto said.

"As Shinobi?" Jiri asked.

"Yeah," Naruto nodded enthusiastically.

"None," Hancock answered, "We are not shinobi."

Naruto almost missed the next tree limb due to shock of her statement.

"What?! Your not! But you're amazing! You just killed those ANBU and without a single problem!"

"Naruto," Jiri said, stopping her run and stood on a tree limb, Hancock following her lead as well as Naruto, "Who are our fathers?"

"Errr, Orochimaru and Jiraiya," Naruto said with a confused look.

"Who is our mother?" Jiri continued.

"Tsunade…"

"What are all of them known as?"

"Oh! The legendary Sannin! So what?"

"We would be targeted because of it. By having no alliance with any village, our fathers not knowing our existence, and only two- three- people know who we are, we are not put at risk. Life living like this, is hard, but we are use to it."

"Yeah, why do you think we are named Jiri and Hancock? Both names throw people off. People tend to think that Hancock is a male foreigner and I as maybe a male, maybe female. By word of mouth of course not if they see us." Jiri added with a sly smile, "So when people see us we usually tend to keep to the names Hana and Jun."

"Yeah, your pen name is Denki Jun," Naruto said with a nod, "But why don't you work for Konoha?"

"Well, that wouldn't work out very well, especially now that you were banned. We have always been just civilians, really."

"Wow, but you're just civilians?"

"You are now too…"

The thought had never occurred to Naruto. Technically he was now a civilian again. He blinked several times before slumping against the tree's trunk. He just stared at the bark for a bit and Hancock and Jiri just looked at him worriedly.

"Sorry," He finally said as he wiped at his eyes before the tears came, "That kind of hit me a little too fast."

"It's okay Naruto," Jiri said with a weak smile, "It's okay to cry. Your not a ninja anymore."

And for the first time in what seemed forever, Naruto just cried.

He wasn't a ninja any longer, his dream to become Hokage was shattered, and all the events that led up to this weighed heavy on his shoulders. So he finally was allowing himself relieve himself of all that pain through his tears.

Jiri and Hancock both tried to soothe him, but after a bit, Jiri just put him on her back and they continued on as he cried.

It wasn't until the entered a familiar field did he even stop.

Bones were everywhere, protruding from the ground like a grand sculpture.

This had been where Sasuke had been freed from the barrel and continued on to Orochimaru on his own free will. This was where that strange bone guy had fought not only him, but Lee, and Gaara- so Lee had said.

"What is this?" Hancock asked, looking very surprised.

"Bushy Brows said that this is the resting place of that bone guy. He was fighting Gaara, but he died right before he won. He's probably still where he stopped." Naruto explained as he slid off of Jiri's back and walked towards the bones, "I wonder if he thinks he died in vain?"

"If his mission was successful, I highly doubt it," Jiri said as she touched one of the massive bones before pulling away as if burned, "Hancock."

Hancock walked up and felt the bone too, but didn't pull away like her sister. Instead she pulled off her heels and began to use her chakra control to climb the massive thing.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked, completely confused to what was occurring.

"The bone is vibrating with chakra. No one who is dead can still have a chakra pulse that strong."

"But he's been here for at least three weeks! He has to be dead!"

"Not exactly. A human's body can sometimes go into a form of hibernation. Where they can survive the strangest of situations on a low heart beat, a pulse that is so slow someone who isn't a extremely medic won't recognize it, and barely breathing." Hancock corrected as she continued to climb to the top and jump over to the body, "I have a theory that sometimes the curse seal will cause these circumstances in order to make sure it's host lives. If I deactivate the seal, then his pulse will return to normal and he will merely be unconscious."

"Then what are you doing! He's Orochimaru's!" Naruto yelled as she managed to get to the body.

Hancock looked down and raise a brow, "So? Does it really matter who he is?"

"He helped Sasuke get away!"

"Okay then," Jiri said with a shrug, "You kill him then. We won't."

"But…" Naruto's brows mashed together as he looked back up at Hancock and watched as she gently eases his body out of the bone, "He's…"

"He's what? Evil?" Jiri prompted, "what is evil, Naruto?"

"I… um…" Naruto was at a loss.

"If you want to, go ahead and end his life. We won't, but that doesn't stop us from stopping you. To kill is just like any other shinobi would do," Jiri said as she watched his expression.

His eyes were clouding over with thought as he thought about what Jiri had said. It was true. Shinobi killed and murdered in the name of their village… but what made a enemy village evil? Because they were not allies they had to be enemies?

Kimimaro was from Sound and he served Orochimaru who killed and used others. Kimimaro was one of those that had been used.

Like Haku- Kimimaro wanted to be a tool for his precious person and was left aside when he was broken.

Naruto felt Shiroi rumble with pleasure as he came to his next thought.

Kimimaro was a broken tool like Haku had been at the end of his life. The difference was how the 'holder' of the 'broken tool' reacted. Zabuza had grieved. Orochimaru didn't even care.

"Evil, is the lack of respect for others. Not caring for anyone but yourself and your own selfish goals. Not holding those who are around you as precious… That is what I think evil is." Naruto finally said as he looked at Jiri with determined eyes, "I will not kill him, because I will not be in anyway evil like Orochimaru. I will always help those in need and I will only fight to protect others! I may not be a shinobi anymore, but that is my nindo and I will never stop just because of not being a shinobi of Konoha!"

Jiri just eyed him, seeing if he would back down, but he didn't. She could see the determination in his eyes and how he would keep his word no matter what.

She could see it. What made her mother straighten her back and hold her head high again. That determination was intoxicating to others and made them what to be strong as well.

"Congrats, brat," Jiri said as she finally broke eye contact with his and began to search her bags for something, "Here." She finally said as she pulled out a scroll, "My mother wanted you to read this, but I didn't want to give it to some brat that didn't have a lick of respect for a life or the way of the shinobi."

Hancock plopped down off the massive bone with the bone user over her shoulder. She set him down and began to put her heels on as Naruto quietly opened the scroll.

It was a note.

_"Dear Naruto,_

_If you are reading this, then my daughters have picked you up and you have somehow won the respect of Jiri._

_Knowing her, she probably only forked this out after you said something that really struck home with her. But anyways, on to what this letter really has to say._

_Congratulations Naruto! You have made chuunin. Now I know you are no longer a ninja in the eyes of Konoha, but to the rest of the world you are still a shinobi trained by Leaf. So once again, congratulations!_

_But that is not all. I have given my daughters several more scrolls with letters for you during my absence in your life. This is only the beginning of what you will be learning!_

_Until I am able to guarantee the safety of your friends, I am remained in Konoha. But when my plan comes to an end here is Konoha, expect me and a few others to be following your trail. Don't travel around too much so we can find you, but all three of you be safe okay?_

_Until we can be together,_

_The Fifth Hokage_

_Senju Tsunade."_

"So," Hancock said with a grin on her face, "What did she say?"

Naruto looked up with his infamous grin, "She promoted me Chuunin status!"

"Oh really," Jiri said with fake shock.

Naruto blinked as he looked at her before bursting out "YOU KNEW DIDN'T YOU!"

"Of course brat," Jiri said as she stuck out her tongue, "I read over all that bloody paperwork!"

"It was not enjoyable. I will never covet Kaa-san for her position," Hancock said as she picked up the bone user again, "Shall we get back to the hotel we are currently rented before our allotted time runs out?"

"Yeah," Jiri consented as she tugged on Naruto, "Come on brat."

"You guys suck," Naruto said, getting in the last word about the whole chuunin thing.

Jiri and Hancock just took off with a "We know" in response. Naruto followed them as soon as they marked their heading.

These two were interesting. That was for sure. He would not ever get use to seeing Jiraiya's face as well as Orochimaru's on the young female counterparts.

But he was content in the turn of events. Who knew? Maybe Jiri was a better teacher then her own father? Then again, that meant he would have to convince her to teach him.

Then again…

She was probably planning on teaching him.

If not, he would just bug Jiri until she at least gave him the manuscript to the next volume of Rebirth.

Both worked in his mind.

* * *

You know my standard end notes:

How did you like this? Better as the chapters get longer?

Excited?

Did you like the Shikamaru and Hinata thing?

What do you think of the Jiri & Hancock moments?

Do you like them so far?

Do you understand their names now?

The how about end?

Hancock will from now on usually be called Hana while Jiri will be occasionally be called Jun.

As a side note... I named her Hancock not because of the movie Hancock, but the pirate capitan Hancock from One Piece. I thought she was really cool, so I named her after that character.

Shiroi means white. Thank you Shizuka Taiyou for the name suggestion. I liked it the moment I tried it out. Though I want to thank Dragon Man 180 for the names he offered too!!

Kousa means golden sands. Just thought that would work for her!

So once again we must part for update! I thank you all for your reviews! They make me feel very special! lol!

_Bows_ Please take care of my story, it is in your hands to make or break (no useless flames, only ones that will help make this better please. Will delete the ones that are **useless** bashing of my writing)

Ja Ne

Volleys-chan


	5. Chapter 5

Howdy everyone! Okay I know, you hate me. I've actaully had this for.... about two months? More? I just was so busy with other things it slipped my mind that I had it. Sorry! _Guilty look._ So anyways, I was watching the battle between Gaara and Kimimaro and that reminded me. So! Here you go!

I have a lot of this planned out, but hardly any written. I also have been thinking about other stories and such. Lol. I have also been helping my friend with her first story. It is Sakura/Deidara with a really thick plot. She hasn't actually brought Deidara in yet, but she's getting close. Go read it.

It's called _From Leaf to Flower_

Really. It's good.

Well I think that is all for now, so just start reading and tell me what you think. I tried to be as convincing as possible, but please factor in the Naruto factor (He can change anybody except Sasuke and Madara....and the peoples who are dead :( ...)

Enjoy.

* * *

_**From Under the Kage's Hat**_

_Chapter 5_

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto now or ever. Not even for a moment last chapter or this chapter or any chapter I write. Perfect LionHeart owns the writing challenge.

* * *

**

Naruto sighed as he opened his eyes and stared at the sleeping man sharing his bed. Jiri and Hana were on the other bed sleeping soundly while cuddling with each other. It seemed both were rather clingy while sleeping, but they were sisters so is wasn't all that strange.

Him on the other hand was sharing a bed with the white haired bone user. He couldn't get to sleep without the fear of the man waking up and killing him in his sleep.

So here he was, awake and bored, having nothing to do but think of what had transpired since they had come to the hotel.

Hana had immediately went to work on the bone-user, setting him down on a bed and deactivating the seal with her chakra. Her focus was easily only on the sickly man who was wheezing badly after the seal retracted.

Jiri had disappeared into the bathroom and came out wearing a black bikini that would make any healthy man die of a nosebleed, though Naruto was able to escape without one.

He really didn't understand why she was wearing that until she had thrown him swimming trunks and ordered him to put it on.

"I want to make sure you are scrubbed down before you get into the sheets and rest," Jiri said as she sat down to wait.

Naruto looked down at the swimming trunks before looking back up at her with a wary look, "I don't know if I should do this… I have some…"

"I have seen my share of injuries. If you have some scars, it is nothing I haven't seen before." Jiri interrupted him, guessing at what he was being timid about.

Only Tsunade had seen his twisted scar over his heart and she almost cried, so Naruto was a little nervous. Yet, he did as he was told and went into the bathroom to change, looking in the mirror before coming out to look at the whirpool like scar that marked his chest.

**_"It's not that bad Kit-sweetie, it suits you actually,"_** Shiroi tried to encourage him with a compliment.

"Sure it does," Naruto sighed as he fingered the burnt skin that twisted like a whirlpool towards the center of the scar, "I just wish it wasn't so…"

He ended it there, not bothering to think more as he opened up the door of the bathroom to see Jiri and Hana freeze as they looked at him.

"Naruto…" Jiri whispered as she looked at the two week old scar.

"How did that occur?" Hana's voice strained as she looked back up at his eyes.

Naruto just looked down at the scar before giving out a long sigh, "After my bath. I'm tired and if I tell you now, I'll just want to go to bed."

The two girls reluctantly nodded and the mood became very dark and somber. Jiri finally mumbled something about taking him to the hot springs and lead the way as Naruto just walked quietly behind her.

When they reached the springs, Jiri broke the silence as she pointed to a stool and barked, "Sit."

Naruto didn't refuse her and just sat down, pretending that this wasn't awkward at all. Jiri was going through a collection of soaps and shampoo and oils that she had brought with her, picking them up, smelling them, and either taking them out or putting them back it. When she had picked out all she would need, she grabbed a washcloth and headed towards Naruto.

"Do you need those bandages on your face?" Jiri asked as she looked at him nervously.

She was afraid of hurting him by bringing up painful things.

Naruto just fingered the bandages before remembering their presence.

"Oh, I forgot that these were on. No, they are there just because they were changing and I didn't want to alert the village. Along with my hair. I put blond hair dye in it because the hair color is changing, dattebayo."

"I will remember that while I clean you up."

Naruto nodded before casting her a questioning glance, Jiri sighed as she began to ready her things.

"I am going to get you clean, since I can smell you from over here," Jiri reminded him as she shifted through her supplies, "A ninja, even one like yourself needs to make sure their scent is not noticeable. You, my dear, are _very_ noticeable to the point that if you hid, I would be able to find you with my nose."

Naruto looked at her like she had grown another head, but didn't comment since he knew Jiri probably inherited her mother's temper.

Naruto just sat, staring at her like a kicked puppy. Jiri could tell he did not want to be washed by some sixteen year old girl. She soaked the washcloth she had before she looked at him again. He had those puppy eyes her mother had warned them about.

"Oh, grow up, most men would die for this opportunity," Jiri laughed lightly trying to lighten the mood as she lathered the soap up in the washcloth, "And the puppy eyes don't work on the puppy eyes master. Or Hana… never worked on Hana."

"Immune?" Naruto asked as she began to scrub him.

_'He seemed totally over what had been bothering him before. He must have been use to things going bad if he could ignore it so easily,'_ Jiri noted.

"Totally and absolutely," Jiri confirmed, "You give her those eyes, she just stares at you like you're the biggest idiot around, turns about, and tells you that she is not associated with you nor will she cave in to that ridiculous look."

Naruto laughed. He had only known Hancock for a good day, but he could definitely see her doing that. She was way to serious to fall for it.

Naruto, in order to try to ignore the fact that he was getting the scrub down by a_ really_ pretty girl, continued to talk to her about random subjects just to keep himself occupied. She was gentle around his large scars, but still made sure to erase his current scent of blood, sweat, and, according to her, 'cheap smut' books. It ended up that Jiri had started to ask him about his life in Konoha. Soon, he had told her everything about the place, forgetting entirely that she was washing him, until he had a bucket of hot water poured on his head.

"Your good and clean, get in the water and soak," Jiri said as she herself headed into the water.

"Cool," Naruto chirped as he jumped in and swam over to her.

"By the way," Jiri asked as she furrowed her brow, "Your hair, it's turning white."

Naruto played with his hair. It had gotten a little longer, but he knew his hair was just changing white, most of it anyways. He had several tufts of hair that were still golden and, as Shiroi promised, would stay golden.

"Yeah, I know. It's just apart of the changes going on, nothing really. Shiroi likes to call it prism white." Naruto said as he ran his hand into clean hair, "I was trying to cover it up a bit back at home, along with my whisker marks."

Jiri nodded, "that why you are still wearing those silly bandages on your face?"

"Yeah, I haven't looked at myself for a while, so I wonder if it spread." Naruto said as he began to peel the medical items off his face and rub his face a bit to clean off the dirt.

Jiri just stared as she looked at the marks. They were utterly astounding! They were thick, but at the same time white with a silver outline and the center looked almost like crystal, shining like how glass would when hit with the sun. Naruto must have noticed her staring because he covered one side of his face and scrunched his nose.

"What? Is it that bad?"

"Kawaii!" Jiri squealed as she began to massage his whisker marks, "How did you get these? Why are they shining? There is no sun in here and the lights are dim. Do they glow in the dark?"

Naruto was having a hard time concentrating as he realized something. The whisker marks had become very sensitive. The simple strokes that Jiri was performing felt really really nice. It took all of his will to even manage out a simple sentence.

"Jiri… Stop… sensitive." Nartuo said.

Okay… not the best sentence every made in the world, but Jiri seemed to get it when she quickly pulled her hands back.

"Sorry!" She said as she pulled away from him a bit, "Medic's curiosity."

"It's fine," Naruto said with a sigh of relief, "I wasn't warned about how sensitive they would get though…"

"Was if painful?"

Naruto blushed a bit, turning his head in a different direction as he answered her, "Not exactly… you could say quite the opposite."

Jiri blushed heavily when she figured out _exactly_ what he meant.

"I'm going to check up on Hana." She managed to say as she stood up and grabbed a towel to dry off with, "Come back when you are done soaking."

"Sure," Naruto said as his face flushed too, "Warn Hana-nee-chan about that will you Onee-chan?"

"Definitely," Jiri said as she shut the door, leaving Naruto alone in the water.

After a good long hour of soaking and a quick chat with Shiroi, he stood up and grabbed a towel to dry himself with and headed back to the room.

Jiri was sitting next to Hancock as both teenagers concentrated on healing the man before them.

"Hey," Jiri greeted as she noticed his presence, "How was the rest of your bath?"

"Good," Naruto nodded before adding, "I was talking to Shiroi."

"Who?" Hana asked as she looked away from her patient for the first time.

"You mentioned her to me before, but I thought that she was just a friend from Konoha."

Naruto blinked a second before realizing they probably didn't know the secret of Konoha.

"Oh, sorry about that," Naruto laughed as he rubbed the back of his head with a forced grin, "You don't understand why I was banned, huh?"

"We do," Jiri snorted, "We read the papers. I just don't get why all those petty crimes got you kicked out."

"That was the cover up story, the real story involves this scar," Naruto said as he motioned to the whirlpool scar upon his chest with a sigh, "How much do you know about the Kyuubi?"

"Not much, only what was rumored to happen," Hana answered.

Naruto sighed again before going into the long story about the Kyuubi, him being the Jinchuuriki, and the events that lead up to him being with them. To say they were surprised was the least one could say. In fact, they seemed very angry.

"What fools," Hana hissed, irises slitting even more then usual, "To not see you as what you are but fear you for what you are not!"

Naruto could understand. Hana suffered the same. If people from Konoha saw her, they would see her as the demon spawn of Orochimaru while worshiping her sister for being the daughter of Tsunade and Jiraiya.

"Don't those idiots know a thing about seals? It doesn't work that way!" Jiri yelled as she dented the iron work on the bed with a wild throw of her fist.

"Do you believe you can trust Shiroi?" Hana asked as she looked at him with a worried glance.

Naruto nodded as he ran his hand through his wet locks of white and gold hair, pushing it back as he thought.

"Yes," He finally said as he looked up at the sisters, "She has proven herself to me. Plus, she has purified another demon dwelling within another Jinchuuriki. My friend's mind has been calmed since then."

"Alright, we will trust your judgment then," Jiri said before grinning, "who knows, maybe she will be willing to share a couple stories with me? I can see it now 'The Nine Tails of a Miko'! It would sell!"

"What my sister is trying to say," Hana said as she rolled her eyes, "Is that we will trust your judgment in her until we ourselves can trust her."

Naruto just smiled lightly as they talked a bit more before they called it a night and went to bed.

The bone-user next to him stirred, causing Naruto to flinch and jump away from the 'danger'.

"Orochimaru-sama?" the teen wheezed as he looked around rather dazed with his jade eyes.

"No," Naruto was able to say, reigning in his emotions to talk to the older man, "He left you for dead."

The jade eyes closed as the man's lip quivered a second form fighting off a cough, "Then I am no longer any use. Please, end my life."

"Not going to happen, dattebayo."

Naruto flicked the man on the head, causing the jade eyes to meet the sapphire blue.

"I have met you before," he said, trying hard to place the prism shining white and gold locks of hair.

"Yes," Naruto said as he calmed down a bit, "I am Uzumaki Naruto. My teammate was Uchiha Sasuke."

"Ah," the bone-user said before closing his eyes, "then you were the one who tried to get him back, before the green clad one came."

"Yes, but don't worry, you were successful in your mission." Naruto said with a sour look, "I tried to bring Sasuke back, but he did not wish it. Left me a rather nice parting gift too."

Naruto pulled off his shirt to show the bone-user the scar. After a second he put her shirt back on and squatted near the bed.

"Village threw me out after that. So, I don't remember your name."

The jade eyes smoldered in confusion, "why ask such a thing from your enemy?"

Naruto shrugged, "You're not my enemy. You're Konoha's enemy. I am no longer apart of Konoha. Actually, I kinda admire your faithfulness to your master. Though I do not admire you master at all. He's evil."

"He is not evil." The other male snapped as he tried to look threatening where he laid immobile.

Naruto looked at him, "No, _you_ are not evil. You served your master and respected your teammates. Orochimaru didn't even bother to find out if you lived or not. He used you like he would any tool and once you were broken, he moved on without a care. That is evil."

"And who are you to judge?"

"I am a jinchuuriki." Naruto said with a shrug, "So are you going to tell me your name now?"

The man stared at him for a moment. Jinchuurikis were known to be good judges of character since they were usually used by others. They would know who was good and who was bad just by witnessing the actions of that person. It was even rumored that they had a sixth sense about those sort of things. If they were tricked, usually it was because they wanted to ignore the feeling they had inside for hope that they were just reading the person wrong.

"I am Kaguya Kimimaro." Kimimaro finally relented.

"Nice to meet you Kimi-kun," Naruto said with a grin, "Can you move?"

"No," Kimimaro said, slightly confused at the familiarity the boy addressed him with, as if they had been friends since the beginning of time.

"Good," Naruto said as he climbed back into the bed, "I was getting tired, but was afraid you'd wake up and kill me. No worries then, 'tebayo."

Kimimaro watched as the boy fell asleep in no time now that he didn't feel threatened, and now it was the Kaguya's turn to stare at the ceiling and think about what to do.

* * *

When the light of the morning entered the room, Kimimaro, who had been awake thinking about what to do next, heard angry grumbling come from the next bed over.

"Get off of me you oversized leech," a female voice hissed as two silk white hands began to push at the other person on the bed with snow white hair.

"Oversized?" The one closest to him said with a yawn, "If I'm oversized, what are you? Since you are clearly bigger then me?"

He understood what the white haired one meant when she rolled over and sat up in bed. He couldn't help but wonder what god in their right mind would curse a woman with such huge breasts.

"That's not what I meant," the other said as she too sat up on her side of the bed, stretching.

"Hey, Hancock," the white haired teenager said as she looked into Kimimaro's jade eyes.

"_What _Jiri?" Hancock said, clearly not happy with what she had been called.

"Your patient is awake." The girl dubbed 'Jiri' stated with a grin.

That's when Kimimaro saw it. The likeness. The other girl whirled her head around to look at him and he saw the similarities between her and his old master. Her golden eyes were however far more gentle and open. Her hair looked like silk while his master's constantly knotted from lack of time taken to care for it. He skin was whiter and more fitting to her. Her face was much more beautiful then his master's ever was, even the colors both he and she used looked better on her.

"Are you well?" She asked as she got up and walked over to his bed, "Or are you in pain?"

She rested her delicate hand on his forehead and took his temperature before moving that same hand down to his chest to see how his lungs were doing.

"She's talking to you Kimi," Naruto's voice said as he sat up and stretched.

Kimimaro's mind finally came back from wherever it had been and he answered.

"I feel better then I have in ages. Some pain still remains, but do not bother with it. I am a broken tool in the eyes of my master and will perish soon for failing him."

"Nonsense," The Orochimaru look-a-like said as she looked him in the eyes with that angered look, "You will do no such thing."

"But I have failed him."

"No, he has failed you." Hana corrected, her eyes narrowing as she spoke, "A person in command of other human lives has to treat them as that. Lives. If he fails to care for those lives, he fails the people who entrusted their lives to him. Not the other way around."

"…I have not thought of it that way, allow some time to think on the subject." Kimimaro said as he closed his eyes.

So the others did just that. They stayed there another three days as Hana and Jiri healed him, Naruto meditated off and on for those three days, letting his body heal and his charka adjust to the cleaner chakra that now flowed through his veins, talking constantly to Shiroi and getting advice on what to do next.

But soon, Kimimaro was healed, able to walk, breath, and move without the hindrance of his ailment. The four of them stood at the inn's entrance, just after paying for the room. Kimimaro on one side and Hana, Jiri, and Naruto on the other.

"Thank you for all you have done for me," Kimimaro said with a bow, "but even now I still do not know what to do with the life given to me. I still have the curse seal and feel its ache to return to Orochimaru-sama's side, even though I know I am not longer in his favor."

"Then don't return to him." Naruto said as he folded his arms and pouted a bit, "You don't have to be his tool. You can be your own person!"

Kimimaro looked at him before touching his curse mark, "I will die eventually if I do not return. My curse mark will make sure of that. Its dark chakra slowly kills a person if they do not return to Orochimaru's care."

Naruto looked like he was about to say something before he cast his gaze upwards as if listening to someone. He nodded once after a couple seconds and a grin appeared on his face.

"Okay, I'll try that," He happily agreed before looking back at Kimimaro, "Would you return to his side if you had a different option?"

Kimimaro looked at him with a slightly confused face before shaking his head no. He caught Hana out of the corner of his eye smile at his answer.

"Then hold still," Naruto said before taking his hand and resting it on the curse mark.

Kimimaro was about to pull away on instinct when a large rush of white chakra ran up Naruto's arm and into his curse mark. He could feel it within himself as the white chakra over-dominated the dark chakra within the seal and dissolved it into nothing. The seal turned white before he felt the white charka vanishing as well and soon the seal was gone altogether.

Naruto recoiled his hand and rubbed the back of his head.

"It is light chakra," Jiri said in a low hush.

"It can purify dark energy," Hana mused under her breath as she too stared at what had just occurred.

"Now go do something with your life. Go find someone that is precious to you to protect and make sure they treat you with the same respect." Naruto said with a grin, "That's the only way to truly live."

Kimimaro looked at those sapphire eyes, they sparkled with joy and happiness that no Jinchuuriki was suppose to know. He had discovered the meaning of living, of fighting. To protect someone precious.

Orochimaru had once been precious to him, but he had in return thrown him to the dogs once he learned of his aliment. These three had met him while he was powerless and healed him without expecting anything in return other then him living his life better.

So Kimimaro came to a decision right then and there that if you would have asked him a month or two ago, he would have scoffed at.

"Would it be alright if I join you on your journeys?" He asked with that level voice he was known to have.

Naruto's face lit up as he smiled even bigger, "I'm alright with it, how about you Onee-chans?"

"I have no qualm about it at all," Hana said wit a gentle smile and nod of her head, "so long as he pulls his own weight."

"The more the merrier!" Jiri said with a shrug and grin, "Maybe he would make a great sparring partner."

"Yeah," Naruto chipped in, "I couldn't hit him last time, but I wonder if I could improve by sparring with him!"

Naruto was already bouncing off the walls at the idea of a new friend while Jiri and Hana just laughed at the boy's enthusiasm. Kimimaro had to smile too. Naruto had an addicting trait to him. His mood was very contagious.

Perhaps, he, too, could find a reason to live. To find those precious friends that could help him survive this rough world with.

Kimimaro didn't know it then, but he had already found them. Time would tell him soon enough though.

"Where to next, Jiri-nee-chan?"

"Where to? Well to the meeting spot! Crescent Moon Island! They have very nice casinos there and no doubt the best sake!"

"Not for underage teens to go to though," Hana said as she eyed her sister.

"Oh course not! That's why we shouldn't let Kaa-san pick the rendezvous point!" Jiri fumed.

"Then again, I hear they have a nice library and spa resorts," Hana said with a thoughtful look.

"Kaa-san, I love you!" Jiri shouted to the heavens.

"So easily pleased," Hana said with a depressing sigh.

"So when are you guys going to teach me?" Naruto chipped in.

"Not now, brat," both girls said as they looked at him.

"I have an excellent training exercise you can use while traveling," Kimimaro said as he looked at the younger boy.

"Oh? What's that?"

"Being silent."

"…Did Kimi-kun just make a joke?" Naruto asked as he glanced at the other two.

And with that, the four of them left the small village and traveled towards the ocean towards Crescent Moon Island.

* * *

Tsunade looked up from her work and stared at Hinata. She was already mastering the second level of her healing lessons and it had only been four days! Of course, her clan was known for their chakra control.

Shikamaru was also in the room, grumbling as he looked over the assignment she had given him. It wasn't all too hard for him, but anything to the Nara was 'troublesome' even if he knew the answers.

"How is everybody doing?" Tsunade asked as she looked at the two.

"Very good, Hokage-sama, I am ready to begin the next level," Hinata reported as she placed the fish back into the tank.

"This is so troublesome, but I will be done soon," Shikamaru said with a sigh.

Tsunade heard a light knock on the door soon after Shikamaru and Hinata had given a quick update.

"Go to the next room," She ordered quietly as she began to work on her paperwork.

The two got up, taking some things they would need and left without questioning, though Shikamaru _did_ mutter that word again, and left the room to the connecting room only to the Hokage's office.

"Enter," Tsunade said once the door had been shut.

Haruno Sakura popped her head in, looking nervous and even afraid. Tsunade motioned for her to come in, to which Sakura immediately did.

"What brings you here Sakura?" Tsunade asked as she rested her head in a hand.

The girl figitted a bit but eventually looked at her with her jade green eyes and sputtered out what she wanted.

"Can you teach me, please?"

No. Hell no, she was not about to write more paperwork for yet another person.

"I am afraid I have already taken several apprentices and my hands are full with them and this blasted paperwork," Tsunade said with a apologizing look, "I cannot teach you, but I will write you a letter of introduction to the hospital and request someone to teach you there."

Sakura's eyes dimmed a bit as well as her stance look deflated. Tsunade felt bad for her, but there was no way she was about to add yet another person to her large stack of paperwork.

"Also, how about I leave you a copy of my notes on how to use chakra to add to your strength?"

Sakura's eyes brightened a bit to that as she nodded. She looked a little happy that she would at least become more helpful, but saddened that Tsunade was not able to teach her.

But as Tsunade had discovered, Sakura soon to discover, when one door closes; a window opens.

But not in this Hokage's office.

Naruto glued those ones shut.

Both literally and figuratively.

* * *

You know my standard end notes:

How did you like this?

Excited?

Did you think about the Sakura thing?

The how about end of the Naruto part?

Shiroi means white. Thank you Shizuka Taiyou for the name suggestion. I liked it the moment I tried it out. Though I want to thank Dragon Man 180 for the names he offered too!!

Kousa means golden sands. Just thought that would work for her!

So once again we must part for update! I thank you all for your reviews! They make me feel very special! lol!

_Bows_ Please take care of my story, it is in your hands to make or break (no useless flames, only ones that will help make this better please. Will delete the ones that are**useless** bashing of my writing)

Ja Ne

Volleys-chan


	6. Chapter 6

Hey! What's up!!!

....Okay, so I messed up... and didn't update... for like.... forever.... But I have written several new chapters and will be released in the next few weeks. I go through bouts of inspirations, then nothing, then more inspiration. So here is the inspiration that will make you smile (Hopefully)

Well I think that is all for now, so just start reading and tell me what you think. I tried to be as convincing as possible, but please factor in the Naruto factor (He can change anybody except Sasuke and Madara....and the peoples who are dead :( ...)

Nothing is italiced or bold for now simply because it won't let me... I will fix this laterz

Enjoy.

* * *

_**From Under the Kage's Hat**_

_Chapter 6_

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto now or ever. Not even for a moment last chapter or this chapter or any chapter I write. Perfect LionHeart owns the writing challenge.

* * *

**

Naruto blinked a couple of times as he stared at the caravan. He looked from the large man to the little boy sitting at his side, playing a game, over to his travel buddies.

"You want us to what?" Naruto asked, clearly not understanding what they were suppose to be doing.

Jiri sighed as she ran a hand through her hair a bit. Naruto was clearly not thrilled with what Hana and she had decided to do to save traveling expenses.

"We are going to be traveling with them. They need to get to the Land of the Moon, as do we. So we have been hired to guard them." Jiri explained before giving out a huff, "It's not like it's that terrible. This is what shinobi do all the time."

"Fine," Naruto said with a sigh, "But I have to go do something before we head off. Is that okay?"

"I don't know," Jiri said snidely, "Ask our client!"

Naruto decided not to see how far he could stretch out her patience and walked over to the fat man.

"POLITELY!" Jiri roared before he could open his mouth.

Naruto rolled his eyes before giving a formal bow, "Excuse me, I know that we promised to escort you to the Land of the Moon, but would it be all right if we hold off for just an hour or so? I have made a promise to someone else and need to fulfill my promise to her."

The man looked at him for a second before nodding and waving him off, "Of course, we aren't entirely ready ourselves, so you go do what you need to do and come back."

"Arigato!" Naruto cheered as he ran off, yelling as he went, "You won't regret it, dattebayo!"

The man chuckled a bit as he watched the other three approach.

"My, what an energetic friend you have there," He said with a smile, "Are you sure you four are able to perform this job properly?"

Hana nodded as she smiled a bit, sweetly as to not scare the man, "Yes, we may not look that impressive, but that is what gives us the upper hand, Prince-sama."

The man just waved his hand again before saying, "Please, just call me Michiru-sama."

"Hai," Hana said with a nod, "Michiru-sama."

* * *

Naruto had run as far as he could before sitting down and meditating. He didn't want people to see this little display that was about to take hold.

_He looked up and saw Shiroi staring down at him. She smiled as she patted his hair and held up a large scroll._

_**'I found it kit-sweetie,'** she said as she set the scroll on the ground._

_The mindscape was slowly turning from a sewer to something else. Naruto didn't know yet since the Sewer walls were still crumbling down. The water was drained so the ground was dry for once._

_'That's the scroll!' Naruto cheered as he got on the ground next to her._

_**'Yes, this is the contract scroll for kitsune.'** Shiroi acknowledged as she rolled it open, **'I have had this with me for a very long time. Sign your name Kit-sweetie.'**_

_Naruto looked at the names that came before him. There was only three and the one next to the blank spot was crossed out in red letters saying 'invalid'._

_'Will this affect my contract with the toads?' Naruto asked, making sure not to do anything that would lose him the toads._

_**'No. Nowadays humans stay loyal usually to only one summon, but they are allowed to have many. Us summons actually prefer having our summoner having multiple contracts so we summons have unity with each other.'** Shiroi explained nicely._

_'Oh, okay!' Naruto said as he bit his thumb and wrote his name on the blank slot, adding his finger prints at the bottom with the rest._

_**'Alright,'** Shiroi said with a grin, '**That's it. Use the handsigns Jiraiya taught you, but think of me. I will come forth and we can finish this contract.'**_

Naruto nodded as he pulled himself out of his meditation.

"Alright, here we go!" Naruto cheered as he bit his thumb and did the handsigns, thinking only of Shiroi as he did.

With a loud bang and smoke, Shiroi was standing in front of him.

**"Alright Kit-sweetie,"** She said as she opened the scroll again, **"Now all we need is my signature on yours."**

With that, she bit her thumb and began to write her name down over his elegantly, doing the same with her finger prints. However, once she was done, her name glowed like white chakra. Naruto could feel something within him respond to her name lighting up.

"What did that do?" Naruto asked as Shiroi slowly rolled up the scroll.

**"That made it so I don't have to go back inside you. I am still connected to you, yes, but now I draw all my chakra needs from our link and can stay on the physical realm without having to leave."**

"Oh! Cool!" Naruto said as he jumped up from his squatting position he had taken while she written her name.

Shiroi nodded as she stood up, and Naruto finally noticed something.

Shiroi… was tall.

In the mindscape, he really hadn't noticed, but Shiroi was a good seven feet. Her chest as also quite big, but worked well with her hourglass frame. She had wide hips as well.

**"What is it Kit?"** Shiroi asked when she noticed him staring.

"You're tall!"

Shiroi just rolled her eyes as she laughed at him,** "Of course I am tall! I am the biggest, most powerful Miko! I am taller then every single one of the Mikos."**

"No kidding! Kousa-chan was Gaara's height!"

**"Yes, Kousa is a bit of a runt, but she makes up for that in brute force and element control."** Shiroi explained with a grin, **"Come on Kit-sweetie, aren't we hired to watch someone?"**

"Ahhhh!! You're right!" Naruto yelped before turning round and dashing the way he came, "Come on Shiroi! We can't be late!"

* * *

"Naruto…" Jiri said as she stared over his shoulder, "Please tell me that THAT is not Shiroi."

"It is," Naruto said as he rubbed the back of his head, "I made a deal with her and now she can travel around with us."

"But she's huge!" Jiri said as she motioned at the graceful giant, "How the hell are was suppose to work with a giant!"

**"I can hear you,"** Shiroi said, not very amused at Jiri's actions.

"Oh," Jiri said, realizing what she was doing, "Sorry!"

**"All is forgiven,"** Shiroi said with a nod, **"But know this, I am good at stealth despite my size. I have been on many missions that required it."**

"You've been a ninja?" Jiri asked, surprised at that fact.

**"Yes, I have been a ninja about thrity-eight human lifespans. Each for different villages. I am probably one of the few who can still recall all eight original requirements to be a ninja."**

"I am soooooo going to interview you later," Jiri said before casting a glance over to the area the Michiru's caravan waited, "But for now, we have to travel with Michiru-sama. He is very kind, but very flirty. He already tried Hana, but she scared him off when she almost broke his hand."

"Are we allowed to do that?" Naruto asked as he cocked his head a bit.

"No, but Hana wanted to… discourage him from hitting on her." Jiri said before looking back over at them.

**"I see. I will discourage him as well. His heart is filled with good intention, but he is greedy and doesn't understand what it means to fill his position. His soul gives that much away."**

"Naruto," Jiri said before smiling wide, "I am sooooo writing a book about this woman!"

Naruto was actually excited to hear about that. He liked Jiri's books.

"Oh," Jiri said remembering one last thing before they headed back, "We need to get you a new outfit."

Naruto couldn't really ask why. His was still a shredded mess that looked ready to fall apart at any moment. But he was still nervous about what was in store for him.

"Hana took Kimi to that store over there," Jiri said, pointing to a storefront, "Go look for them. Shiroi-sama and I will go back over to Michiru-sama."

"Alright," Naruto said with a sigh.

"Please, call me Shiroi, no honorifics please." Was all of the conversation that Naruto could hear as he retreated over to the store.

The first thing he saw when he had entered the place was Kimi giving him a unsettled look.

"Don't look at him, go!" Hana said as she pointed to the dressing room, "You can't be wearing the same things you wore under Orochimaru. And you," Naruto gulped as she pointed at him, "orange and ninjas do not mix. Come here so I can help you find an appropriate outfit for now."

In the end, Hana picked out two temporary outfits for both Naruto and Kimimaro. Kimi's was one that was similar to the one he had worn before, but instead of sound's colors, it was a grey tones and black pants, no symbol on his shirt. He was content with it, but knew in his gut, she would be changing the outfit as soon as they got to Crescent Island in Moon Country.

Naruto was given a whole new outfit. Though his was also temporary, he was given a black tank top that covered up his chest enough not to see his scar and black slacks with leg guards covering his legs right after the knee bent. He was able to move easer in these things, but was a little upset at the lack of color.

"It's just for now." Hana reassured him, "When we get to Moon Country, I promise you that we will buy something more…."

* * *

The caravan continued on its way. Naruto was able to get to know Hikaru and his father. They were nice people, if not spoiled. Hikaru was a little pest at first, but as they went along, bringing a whole circus with them, he began to become nicer.

It took a week of traveling to get to their goal. After bandits, sandstorms, and typhoons, they had finally landed on the shores of Moon.

Naruto wasn't able to fully train yet, but Jiri did begin grilling him on what he did know, and Hana would come along and correct what he had said wrong. Kimi would tell him about some things he knew, and Shiroi began to teach him the beginning of a taijutsu from, of which she wouldn't tell him the name of.

When they had gotten to the island, they had been attacked. There had been a coup with a cruel man behind it, but in the end, they had come through. Michiru had learned what his father had seen during the trial and thanked the five of them with awarding them a estate on the island.

They tried to refuse, but he had told them that is could be their place of refuge.

"Where ever you may roam, you will always need a sanctuary to rest and recouporate at. That is what this place will be. I will allow none to harm you, like you let none harm me," Michiru told them with a gentle smile.

So, they began to live there.

The estate was large and easily could hold a entire, albeit small, village within its property. The mansion itself had a courtyard that was in the center of the place, with ivy growing up the pillars. It was different, foreign looking from their usual buildings, much like Michiru's castle.

"It was a design from Old World's renaissance time period in the lands of Florence." Hana had noted, before claiming a room and setting up her work station.

It was amazing what time could do for a person. It had been almost three months since being found by Hana and Jiri, but Naruto had really grown. At first, when they finally settled enough to begin training him, he had to entirely relearn his chakra control. It was very embarrassing to just touch a tree with his foot and sending it flying in the opposite direction for a least a hundred yards.

His first month was spent waking up, helping Kimimaro prepare breakfast, both highly inept at it, but Hana and Jiri refused to get up until the sun was in the sky and even then they didn't move much till after they had a source of caffeine in them.

Even then they were a bit temperamental. Kimimaro actually was able to get on their good side in the morning, for some strange reason, Naruto credited that talent to handling the Snake Sannin. He had Hana and Jiri tied around his pinky finger when he prepared his coffee recipe. Naruto figured that girls and caffeine went hand in hand and if you knew how to make coffee, you had power over said girls.

Shiroi was off for the first month, cleansing herself and familiarizing herself the country and animals. But when she came back, she began to teach him Koodori Kitsune, Dancing Fox. That was the one she had started teaching him in the beginning.

So, soon a routine began, that lasted one month.

In the mornings, Kimimaro and Naruto prepped breakfast for the three women, then began to spar after they had set everything out. They would spar in the courtyard using no using jutsu or chakra, just taijutsu. Naruto would try his best, but he could only land a couple hits on Kimimaro and only when the other male allowed it.

Shiroi would then wake, eat her breakfast slowly while watching them spar, and once done, took Naruto away and began to teach him Koodori Kitsune.

Naruto had a natural talent for the stances. The Koodori Kitsune was based mainly off of moves that looked loose and uncontrollable, but that was the beauty of Dancing Fox. If a person really looked, he could see the amount of control put into each movement, flowing from one stance to the other with swift movements. It relied on misleading one's enemies and drawing them in. The moves varied in power, the more force put into the punch did not necessarily make the move stronger, it was the amount of chakra that enforced the energy put into the punch.

So Naruto was in deep trouble with that. That was when Hana and Jiri started moving about and eating breakfast. Around that time, Naruto would meditate with Shiroi so they could rebuild his mindscape to what it should have been.

Kimimaro would get a check up around that time, making sure he didn't have a relapse, but then would go back to his own training. Hana would then drill Naruto, after breaking him of his meditation, and work on chakra control exercises. Jiri would interview Shiroi about the past, jotting down notes as the ageless miko spoke.

After Naruto had about three hours of chakra control exercises, Jiri would then take him and begin to teach him the beginnings of seals, theory mostly, then she slowly taught him writing and calligraphy since the boy had no talent in those fields. His sentences were choppy and poorly written, but Jiri had discovered he loved to read. He would go through a well written book in a half an hour at best.

After about two hours of that, she assigned him work in that, then Hana and Jiri both taught Kimimaro and Naruto about human anatomy and the beginning lessons of Ijutsu. Shiroi used the time to spend time by herself and enjoy her freedom. Three more hours and Naruto was given free time to train and practice and study.

He would rotate from practicing accuracy with Kimimaro, dodging Kimimaro's bone attacks, tracking Shiroi in forests or in the city, reading over his homework, and his katas.

He was struggling at first, but then Shiroi offered her own ideas to him, **"How about seeing if shadow clones will help,"** She had said while she watched with an amused look near the end of the month.

What a surprise it was to Naruto when he learned that Shadow clones retained the information and sent it back to him when they were dispelled. He was going to use that for his next month of training.

The next month was changed. Instead of waking up and just sparring with Kimimaro, Naruto began to create a whole bunch of clones. About fifty were used to try to master chakra control, twenty were for reading, another twenty for practicing calligraphy, twenty for learning sealing, and thirty for his medical studies. Three for making breakfast so that he and Kimimaro could spar longer

While Naruto sparred one on one with Kimi, Shiroi would teach the katas to shadow clones, utilizing their usefulness to assist in the learning process. More options were opened to him during the rest of the day.

Hana began to teach him how to flow chakra though his body in controlled amounts, while Jiri taught him about elemental chakra and how to use it.

Shiroi randomly threw a staff at him one day, looking a lot like hers, and began to teach him how to fight with staves. To say that she kicked his butt was appropriate. To say that he would have been black and blue had it not been for his healing factor was even more appropriate.

Afternoons dealt more with sealing theory, medical knowledge, stealth, agility, and heightening his senses; evenings was free time.

By the end of the day, Naruto released all his clones and would be out till morning, to repeat the whole process again.

By the middle of the second month, Jiri had finally decided that enough was enough, taking both Kimimaro and Naruto shopping for new clothes. Hana and Jiri had a vast amount of clothes in their wardrobe, but the boys didn't. Shiroi had laughed, until they had dragged her with them.

Life went on, the month ended quickly and Naruto landed on his third month of training.

Everything he was being taught, was upped a level or two. He even was thrown a bone sword by Kimimaro and was taught the way of kenjutsu, the little that Kimi did know.

Hana had moved him up to water walking, telling him that it was the basics of the chakra control lessons he would learn from her mother. Jiri began to teach him about spy networks, and Shiroi began introducing Naruto to the foxes network of information, but had to begin teaching him the kitsune tongue to converse with the kitsune.

His first time trying, he said something among the lines of, "Holy Pajamas! I has bucket in my brains!"

He was trying to say, "It is a pleasure to meet you, honorable one."

Shiroi couldn't stop laughing for hours. Naruto didn't come out of his room for a week.

When they finally did convince him to come out, Shiroi had decided to start him on his apprenticeship as her heir. He looked the part, now all he had to do was learn what it meant to be a Kitsune Priest of Light.

* * *

Three months. Tsunade sighed as she looked at her half finished face. It had been three long months since she had seen her happy blonde. She wondered what he was doing.

Hinata and Shikamaru had worked themselves to their limits and back. Hinata was quite proficient in the art of healing, but Tsunade credited the girl's natural knack with healing to her eyes. However, she struggled a bit when it came to being assertive and actually treating a live patient. She still fainted when it came to practicing on Shikamaru.

Shikamaru had gone over each strategy that Konoha possessed in the three months, looking up all battle plans and either making improvements to them, or explaining what went wrong. He was also forced to spar everyday with Hinata. She was a real firecracker once she got moving and was a 'pain' to dodge, but it was 'troublesome' not to dodge.

Three months and the two had been moving in the right directions. Tsunade could only think of how well Naruto was doing with her daughters. She sighed again as she looked back down to her current document and signed it. She put it in the finished stack right before Shizune took it and looked over the her incoming box for the next one.

"Shizune, were are the rest of my papers?" Tsunade said as she looked down at the empty desk.

Shizune looked at her, slightly surprised, "That was the last."

Tsunade's head snapped up, "What?"

"You're done Tsunade-sama!" Shizune repeated with a happy grin on her face.

Tsunade practically leapt up as she yipped for joy. She was done, she could leave, and she could screw over all those bloody councilmen without them even being able to stop her.

"Shizune," Tsunade said with a malicious grin, "Go run a few errands for me will you?"

Shizune grinned back, "With pleasure Tsunade-sama."

"And get that pervert in here stat," Tsunade said, standing and stretching for what felt like the first time in months.

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Shizune giggled.

Both were as giddy as possible. Tsunade turned to Hinata and Shikamaru and cast a grin their was too, "As for you two, go find those boxes we had packed a while ago and get a cart prepared for tonight."

"So, we're finally leaving?" Shikamaru asked, standing up and stretching himself, "Finally. I was beginning to think we'd never leave this troublesome village. The only thing that's a drag is taking that huge load and finding a cart to fit it all."

"I'll go get the medical text," Hinata told her with a smile.

"Good girl," Tsuande grinned, "Whatever you can carry!"

"Hai, Tsunade-shishou!" Hinata nodded, disappearing into the hall.

There was a rap-tap-tap on her window, with mongoose standing there with her head cocked to the side. Tsunade motioned to her to go and get ready and the woman practically flew off the roof and towards her home for her things.

"You called me Tsunade?" Jiraiya called from the door, looking at her rather confused.

"Yes, Jiraiya, sweet, sweet, Jiraiya," Tsunade said as she sat down and leaned back in another happy stretch, "I want to talk to you about your upcoming promotion…"

* * *

In the still of the night, quite like the night he had left on, several shadows stood at the gate, waiting for one last thing. All cloaked in dark, tattered cloth and looked no more richer than a beggar.

"Can we go yet?" One sighed heavily.

"No, there is one last surprise I want to see," The one in charge said.

"And that would be?" the first one asked impatiently.

There was a rush of wind just then and suddenly, there was Jiraiya.

"You. What. Have. You. Done?!?" He whispered harshly, "I am woken up in the middle of the night with not only three of the minor civilian clans, but most merchants, shop owners, and every other clan in the shinobi world other than a few handful screaming at me that you practically bankrupt us."

"I did not such thing," Tsunade scoffed, "It's not my fault that most of the stuff in there was mine, Hinata's dowry money, Shikamaru's allowance, Shizune's inheritance, Anko's compensation money, and both of Naruto's inheritance from both his mother and his father. They really shouldn't rely on almost dead clans for all the money, you know?"

Jiraya's angry vanished quickly, "When I had agreed to accept the position as regent Hokage, I thought that you would at least make it somewhat easier on me."

"Oh, I did," Tsunade laughed, "You should read some of those rules I made. Now. The scroll, my dear friend?"

"I shouldn't even let you take this," Jiraiya said with a sigh, before offering her a tattered scroll, "But I'd die before another one of these ingrates received Sensei's summon."

"Thank you," Tsunade whispered, pulling down her cloak and pecking his cheek, "I really appreciate this."

"No problem, hime," Jiraiya released with a smile, "Now go find your bratty apprentice."

"You know, I think that you should pick up an apprentice or two yourself, Jiraiya," Tsunade said as she handed Hinata the scroll to be hidden and grabbed the reigns and coaxed the ox along, "They might just come in handy if you teach them about your spy network."

He knew what she was saying, 'We will need a way to contact each other.'

"I'll think about it," he told her in an uninterested tone, but in reality, he was already plotting it.

He was the only one to watch them go. They soon dipped over the horizon, and he left. Slowly making his way to the Hokage's office, thinking of who would make a good apprentice. Perhaps see what the Konoha genin had to offer him. He made it into the office and sat down. It scared him somewhat. He was regent Hokage in the Hokage's absence with all her powers of authority save just a few.

He looked for the Kage's hat, just wanting to try it on once, but realized she had taken it with her. He snorted, it was just like her to take that thing. It was invaluable. Oh, well, he would get his own.

He pulled out a scratch pad and jotted down the things he wanted to do so far.

_'Get a new hat._

_Get at least one new apprentice._

_Make sure is a girl. No boys ever again, too annoying._

_Notify everyone in the morning._

_Till then,_

_Go find a endowed woman to help inaugurate the desk.'_

* * *

Sakura was not surprised when she heard that Tsunade had left in the middle of the night with a handful of people. She had figured out that she wanted to be with Naruto.

What had surprised her though was that Tsunade had not given up her right as Hokage. Actually, she kept it. She gave herself hermit status and gave Jiraiya a position of power in her absence. She had dismissed herself and her accomplices of any crimes, debts, or whatever could be thought of- it was a very long list- and promoted not only Hinata to chuunin, but the absent Naruto as well, claiming both of them as her new apprentices.

So that was why she refused Sakura. She had to make sure of the proper paperwork and Sakura would only add to the burden. Her head sunk lightly as she thought about it. That was her: the burden. She would have begun to cry had it not been her vow to get stronger and become less of a burden.

Yes, she was going to do her best and she was going to make people see her as a valuable asset!

Just then, Cat ANBU made herself known.

"Haruno Sakura?"

"Yes?"

"Go to the Hokage's office immediately."

With that she disappeared.

So Sakura went to the office. She wondered what Jiraiya would want. She had only met him a few times, but from what Naruto told her, he was a perverted old man. She chuckled mentally. Well then, she had nothing to worry about.

"Hokage-sama?" She addressed him as she knocked on the wooden door.

"Yes, Sakura, come in and shut the door please." Jiraiya said as he leaned back in the chair, looking quite proud of himself.

She did so, walking further in just to see Ino in there as well. She was about to ask, but was motioned forward.

"Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino," He started as he looked down at a pile of papers, "As you know, Tsunade-sama has left to wander about, leaving me stuck here in her stead. I am not fond of that idea of being closed off from my spy networks," He flickered his stare at the two of them, "So I want to pick up apprentices to become my eyes and ears outside or even inside the walls of Konoha. Are you two interested?"

Sakura paused. This was what she was hoping for. This would prove her worth and give her the strength to help others.

"It won't be easy," he added as a second thought, "In fact, you two will have to not only go through extensive training to do the tasks, but to also… look the part. Are you willing?"

Sakura answered without hesitation, "I am, Jiraiya-sama."

"If Forehead is in, so am I!"

With that, Jiraiya found his new apprentices.

* * *

So, What did you think about the chapter?

I know I cut around a bit, but next chapter will be better. Right now I just didn't think that is was all too important to put into detail... I will inform everyone later about the many things Tsunade did, if only one at a time or in passing. Now the real story can start.

Shiroi means white. Thank you Shizuka Taiyou for the name suggestion. I liked it the moment I tried it out. Though I want to thank Dragon Man 180 for the names he offered too!!

Kousa means golden sands. Just thought that would work for her!

So once again we must part for update! I thank you all for your reviews! They make me feel very special! lol!

_Bows_ Please take care of my story, it is in your hands to make or break (no useless flames, only ones that will help make this better please. Will delete the ones that are **useless** bashing of my writing)

Ja Ne

Volleys-chan


	7. Chapter 7

Hey! What's up!!!

Here is the next chapter!! I hope you all enjoy it. I promise though that the next chapter will be more about Hinata and Naruto.

Enjoy.

* * *

_**From Under the Kage's Hat**_

_Chapter 7_

* * *

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto now or ever. Not even for a moment last chapter or this chapter or any chapter I write. Perfect LionHeart owns the writing challenge.

* * *

**

"Mou, I thought you said that there was an emergency in this village," A young teen asked in an annoyed tone.

"There is, but it is being kept quiet. No one has ever seen such a terrible case like this before," one of his companions told him in a calm tone, "They don't want people to think that there is an outbreak."

"So… tell me again what happened to him?" The teen asked, his sapphire eyes glancing at the busty figure from under his kasa.

"Something about falling out of the sky during a storm? When they found him, he was on death's door and though he has been treated, he still is balancing between life and death. From what the healers can tell, he was poisoned."

"You really did your research, Jiri-nee-chan. But aren't we suppose to wait for Kaa-chan in Moon?"

"Kaa-chan takes forever," Jiri snorted angrily, "I have to do something! I am not like Hana who can sit in a room all day working! I am a nomadic soul! I need the ability to wander! If not for the sake of my soul, than for the artistic flow of my hands!"

"I get it, I get it," Naruto mumbled nervously, inching away from her ever so slightly, "But what I don't get is you taking me with you."

"I have a theory about you Naruto," Jiri told him, instantly calming, "You're chakra is special. I don't know if we can find a real cure for this poison. No one has yet, so I might need you to purify him."

Naruto looked at her, "I am a priest in training. I am also yet to be the apprentice of Tsunade. I am not trained for healing."

"That's why I had you bring Shiroi," Jiri rebutted, "She is going to catch up with us… right?"

"She's a fox," Naruto told her with a deadpanned expression, "She's like the wind herself, uncontrolled and untamable by man. She will come when she wishes and she will come only if she wishes. Kitsune rule number thrity-two."

Jiri sighed as they kept walking. Naruto was wearing a outfit that was almost identical to Shiroi's, with only slight personal touches and altercations made for Naruto being a male. He was wearing a kasa on his head and had ribbons draping down around the edge to blur his facial appearance. He had his staff that Shiroi had given him and walked with an air of confidence for just being thirteen.

Jiri was wearing her usual travel outfit.

"Ugh, you stick out like a sore thumb," Naruto noticed, enjoying how even though he was the one wearing white and had a staff, that he was the one the melted into the crowd better.

"Shut up brat, we are almost there," Jiri grumbled, sending a few glares before heading to the place that had summoned them.

**"What did I miss?"** a familiar voice came from behind Naruto.

"Nothing much, Jiri-nee-chan is sticking out like always." Naruto bantered, looking at Jiri in an amused look, "You thought I stuck out when I wore orange? You and your looks are just as bad."

"Shut up," Jiri fumed as she kept marching.

**"How fast was that? I was only gone for what, twenty minutes?"** Shiroi asked as she stooped lower to talk to Naruto in his ear.

"Try three days," Naruto laughed lightly, "You should really learn time Shiroi."

**"Time in and out of realms is different."**

Naruto was about to ask her what that meant, but Jiri had spoken first.

"There it is," She said pointing at the small hospital that could only best help fifty people at a time.

Naruto noticed that there was an old cart with ox parked in front with one person sitting on the mount acting as guard. He would have paid little attention to her, but she was eating a dango stick in the most familiar and disgusting way.

He spent no time walking up to her, wondering if she would recognize him now.

"Didn't your mother teach you better manners? That's really disgusting." He told her, keeping his kasa in place and hiding his features. Shiroi and Jiri staying back a ways to watch.

The woman did indeed look down at him, giving him a snort before continuing eating her dangos, throwing him a "Beat it squirt. My mother taught me nuthin'."

"Then I guess she never told you that you shouldn't play with curse seals either?" He questioned her, pointing at her neck where her mark was.

She covered it, glaring at him, "Screw off punk."

He chuckled a bit before nodding and entering the building. She was going to get the crap scared out of her later for that. Jiri and Shiroi had no problem passing Anko, since she wasn't there to look for potential threats, only guard.

Naruto didn't know what to expect when he had seen her. He really didn't know that she had jumped onto the bandwagon and joined Tsunade. She still had her Hitai-ite which made him doubt her betraying Konoha.

"Hello miss," He purred at the receptionist, much in the fashion that Shiroi had taught him when acting as the priest he was suppose to be.

He wasn't like the normal priests, so he was suppose to be flirtatious and aloof. He was suppose to act like a kitsune basically- and they, he learned, always acted like they were in heat when talking to the opposite sex. He toned it down, of course, but it was how charismatic he was suppose to be.

"Yes, sir?" She giggled as she looked at him.

"I and my companions were summoned here to look at the man who… how was is put? Oh yes, 'fell from the sky'?" He said silkily.

Jiri and Shiroi right behind him looking quite professional.

"Oh yes," She nodded, but then her smile turned apologetic, "A really famous healer came in not too long ago and is taking a look herself though. So I do not know if you will still be needed."

"It's alright," Naruto shook his head, "We are only here for his welfare, may we still have a look? Just incase we can do anything to help?"

The woman nodded happily, "Oh yes, of course. He is in room down the hall. Please help him, he doesn't seem long for this world, the poor soul."

"Thank you," Naruto said dipping his head in a slight bow before walking towards the room with the two women at his heels.

"Dang, and I thought Shiroi was lying when she said she was teaching you to be charismatic." Jiri laughed, "She didn't even have to see you to get all flustered by you."

"Yes, well, Kitsune are suppose to be like that," Naruto shrugged, "It's coming out better now that there is no hindrance to the flow between Shiroi and I."

**"He's much better than other males though,"** Shiroi added, **"they see a pretty lady and want to immediately get into their pants and spawn with them."**

"Nice," Jiri said in disgust.

They had reached the door just in time for it to fling open with a familiar face rushing out. She didn't stand idle nor did she seem to notice them when she ran to get whatever was needed.

"Aunty… Shizune?" Jiri whispered to herself as they stared at her retreating form.

If Shizune was here… then that meant.

"Hinata, start cleaning up the infected wounds, Shikamaru stop standing there like an idiot and go… help."

"Help with what? I can't do any of this. So, troublesome."

The voices flooded Naruto with memories.

Hinata… Shikamaru… Tsunade? They were here? Where they on their way to Moon?

Naruto looked at Jiri and motioned for her to henge. She smiled as she figured out what he was going to do and took on a form of a priestess. Shiroi was already henging her tail and ears and hair to walk around humans without drawing attention to her. She just adjusted it quickly to hide her whisker marks.

"Excuse me," Naruto interrupted them in higher pitched tone that sounded nothing like him, "We were sent here to see to this man. Is there anything we can do to assist you, ara?"

The patent was a teenager only slightly older then Kimimaro. He had long blond hair that was sticking in clumps due to the blood and grime that was in it and his body seemed thoroughly thrashed and beaten, blotches of black and blue bruises blooming all over his body. Upon his chest was what Naruto recognized as a seal that locked something away. He might have been a handsome fellow, but right now he really looked like death.

"I don't need a bunch of holy men," Tsunade told them harshly, "I need good doctors."

"Jun here is a very good medic," Naruto offered, using her penname, "And I am not to unfamiliar with assisting, ara. In fact, our mother miko is quiet good with poison."

He knew revealing himself at this moment might hinder the poor man's health.

"Fine," Tsunade motioned for Jiri to near, "Come and see what you can do."

Soon all of them were running about. Naruto kept his kasa on the whole time, but slowly, they were able to bring him back from the brink. They discovered that his organs were in different spots then they should have been, like his heart was on the right. They worked around that problem though. However the poison was the only situation.

**"The poison is very strong,"** Shiroi noted with a sad tone, **"If anything, there is only one plant in my whole life that I have seen create this potent of poison and it is said that the leaves of kitsune flesaphane can cure it."**

"Who would do such a thing," Hinata whispered sadly.

"The only person that is said to use something so incurable is the Sasori of the Red Sands" Jiri said as she looked at Shiroi, "Do you think that you could heal it?"

**"I need to check my supplies,"** Shiroi told her, opening up her pouch and pulling out a small scroll, **"I did just refill on my herbs."**

"While you are doing that," Tsunade began to whip something together, "I am going to try to extract the poison as best as I can."

**"Do that,"** Shiroi agreed, shoving Naruto closer to her, **"Take the child too, he can help if only to pin the boy down."**

Shiroi and Jun concentrated on the herbs that seemed otherworldly while Tsunade was showing Naruto and Hinata what to do. Naruto noticed that Hinata had calmed down somewhat during the three months he had been gone. It looked almost as if a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders and she stood taller for it.

Shikamaru was more willing to help then he would have originally, but still acted as if things were 'troublesome'. Naruto was glad that they were here though, but he was quite ready to reveal himself. He had already planned it out and was excited to see their reaction.

Shizune came back in with the items she had been sent out to get. They were needed for the extraction. Tsunade easily made the concoction and told them what to do next.

"Shikamaru, use you shadow possession and keep him down," She said to him first, "Hinata, I need you to brace his shoulders and you boy," She looked at Naruto.

"I'll brace his head just in case, ara," he said as he rested his hands on the man's head, holding it just so.

Tsunade poured the liquid down his throat, Naruto massaged the muscles in his neck to make him swallow. He had gotten this far in basic bedside manners with Jiri and Hana.

"Hold him," Tsunade warned as she rubbed her hands together to warm them before placing her hands on his chest and pushing her chakra into his body.

He arched, even with Shikamaru holding him with a shadow possession. Naruto held his head and Hinata managed to keep his shoulders on the bed. His body automatically made his hands clench the sheets on the bed as his body tensed.

"Come on now," Tsunade whispered, "You can do this."

Soon, she was pulling the liquid from his right pectoral since his heart was on the right. The teen had wakened in the mass amount of pain, his eyes tiredly looking into Naruto's. Since he was holding his head, he had leaned over and his kasa wasn't covering his face at that angle.

Naruto peered into his blue eyes with his own and hushed him the best he could. He was breathing unevenly, just staring into his eyes.

"Can you tell me your name," Naruto whispered, "or can you tell me who did this?"

He had dropped his ara since he needed this quickly and without having to remember to it.

"Deidara," he breathed then continued, "Akatsuki."

No one else was really paying attention other than Naruto since he was the in good view of Deidara's lips. His words were so soft that Naruto had only heard them thanks to his good hearing.

"Why?"

"Re…fused… to… work… with them…"

"Why?"

"No good… idiots… that don't know…nuthin' 'bout… art… ye...ah."

"You're safe now," Naruto whispered to him, "Just hold on. You're safe now."

"Never… safe…" Deidara whimpered as Tsunade began again, "Once… joined… never… can… leave…"

"Then you are in good company," Naruto promised, "They won't give up on you… or me."

Deidara wasn't able to comprehend what he had said before he passed out again. Tsunade looked proud, saying she had gotten it all.

**"Here,"** Shiroi said as she finished mixing a mixture, **"Make sure he drinks this."**

Jiri came up with a different liquidation of the same antidote and injected it into Deidara's bloodstream as Shiroi poured it down his throat, Naruto once again massaging Deidara's throat to make him swallow.

"There," Tsunade breathed, "He should live now."

"Arigato," Naruto bowed, "We will take good care of him, ara."

"We will?" Jiri asked, looking at the smaller person with a questioning stare.

**"Yes, we will,"** Shiroi agreed, **"After all, whoever did this may come again. But the only problem is transferring him back to Moon."**

"Moon?" Tsunade repeated, now looking interested, "You are heading to Moon?"

"Of course," Naruto nodded, "We live there, ara. Michiru-kun let's us live at one of his estates as a thank you."

"Well then," Tsunade sighed, "We too are headed to Moon. We have a cart outside if you need transportation."

"Really?" Naruto said in an excited tone, "That's really nice of you, ara!"

"It's no problem." Hinata said, shaking her head and giving him a friendly smile, "We don't mind helping! We are heading that way anyways."

"We should probably get him out of here as soon as possible, ara. Whoever did this would definitely search for him just to make sure he is actually dead." Naruto stated, "Jun, is there any extra clothing we have that is Kimi's? He's more his size than mine, ara."

"I'll go check," Jun said, leaving the room for a moment to pull her storage scroll from her storage seal she had in a more private area.

"We can't jar his injuries or they may open," Tsunade said as she looked him over again.

**"I have some furs to use as a bed. It would be a good thing to cover your wagon with as well,"** Shiroi added in, **"Greedy men are on the route to Moon."**

"Yes, but we're close enough now that there is only one road before hitting the ferry village, ara." Naruto interjected, "We could also send something to the others to make sure that someone meets us there."

**"I guess it could work," **Shiroi allowed with a nod, **"Alright, preistling, we will do just that."**

"Then its settled," Tsunade said, as she walked up to Shiroi who towered over her, "We travel along with you, and in return, you help us find someone."

"Someone? Who, ara? We know most people in Moon," Naruto said with a silly smile hidden under his kasa.

"I can't tell you until we've gotten to Moon. Too many people searching for the child and I do not want ill-willed people to overhear."

"We will see what we can do," Jiri said as she came back into the room, carrying some spare clothes, "Top is yours and the bottom's are Kimi's, but I think it will work."

"Arigato Jun," Naruto said, swiping them from mid air before he began to shoo the women out of the room.

His argument about a young teenaged boy would not like it if a bunch of girls was around while he got changed- even when unconscious. Shikamaru wouldn't leave though.

"So," Naruto said as he took off his hat once he was sure that the door was locked and sealed, "How long did ya know?"

Shikamaru chuckled, "It took a while, but it was your hands that gave it away."

"My hands?" Naruto asked, looked at his hands.

He sighed when he realized his fingernails were sharp and claw like in appearance as well as a slender look to his hands.

"I remember that happening when you were getting more Kyuubi chakra in your body. No one else noticed and I won't tell, too troublesome."

"Thanks Shika," Naruto smiled.

There was a pause as Naruto began to change Deidara. But before long Shikamaru was talking again.

"You look a lot different. I almost doubted myself for a minute." Shikamaru told him as he began to assist in any way possible.

"Yeah, well, comes with being purified. I've been training none stop too. I am learning so much and its just the tip of the iceberg. Shiroi has been teaching me her ways since she decided that I am to be the next priest. She lives through me and thus I too must be trained."

"It's not just that. Sigh, you're so troublesome, your hair, Naruto, and your whisker marks." Shikamaru pointed out as he carefully lifted the blonde teen.

"Oh…" Naruto said, touching his prism white colored locks, then one of his blond locks, "Yeah, I am use to it now, really."

He went back to changing the older teen and carefully put him in his shirt and pants.

"You're pretty good with this bedside mannerisms too. Hinata is learning and she faints every time she has to practice on a guy, so troublesome." Shikamaru said, "But she did pretty well in this circumstance."

"She'll be fine," Naruto said, placing his kasa back on his head, "She's a good girl."

"Sigh, Naruto, it is good to see you again."

"You too Shika, but like Kaa-chan said, it is too dangerous to reveal myself outside of Moon. Here I am an open target. I'll explain it to Kaa-chan when we get there, plus," He said with a mischievous chuckle, "I really want to surprise her."

"Sure Naruto," Shikamaru agreed, "But who were those two?"

Naruto gave a fox like grin, "Oh no one special, just Shiroi and the daughter of a outstanding medic and a super pervert. Her name is Jiri, but call her Jun for now."

Shikamaru's eyes wide before he groaned and muttered 'troublesome'.

Soon they were back out with the others, lowering Deidara gently on the makeshift bed they had made in the cart. He was still unconscious, but looked comfortable. He looked not quiet peaceful, but tranquil.

Naruto and Hinata rode next to him while Jiri and Shiroi took to the sides. Anko was the driver and boy was she pouting. Tsunade was lounging next to her, and Shikamaru led… looking most troubled. Shizune was sitting on one of their many boxes, watching over the boy just incase Naruto or Hinata couldn't handle it.

"So, what are you exactly?" Hinata asked, trying hard not to invade his privacy with Byakugan to see what he looked like under the kasa.

"Priest, ara."

"What do you do?"

"I heal. I purify. I keep peace between this land and the other realms, ara." Naruto said simply, "Still learning, really. Have a lot to learn, ara."

"Oh… I'm learning to heal too," she whispered quietly, "I am not great yet though."

"Probably better than me, ara! I can hardly heal something without blowing it up!" Naruto commented.

A lot of the fish he had collected usually ended up spread across the area he had tried to heal them in.

"Maybe you use too much chakra," Hinata suggested.

"Oh, I know I do," Naruto said simply, "I was born with huge chakra coils. We might be priests, but we are learned enough to know about chakra, ara. That's why I am the next high priest after our mother miko."

He motioned at Shiroi with his staff.

"Oh… That is really amazing." Hinata said in awe.

"Not really," He sighed, trying hard not to smirk, "I have to practice using the staff with her. She is one good bojutsu specialist. She can knock me to next week really, ara."

**"You are learning, my priestling,"** Shiroi told him from where she walked, **"I don't expect you to get everything right away. I had much practice to get as good as I am. Years. You on the other hand, just picked one up recently."**

"Yeah, but it still hurts, ara." Naruto rebutted.

That was enough to make Hinata laugh. Naruto liked her laugh, it made her smile and she was cute when she smiled.

Hinata continued to ask her questions and Naruto told her what he could. He never told her his name, neither did she ask. He assumed it was because he had not offered it to her. If she asked, then she would have to exchange names and that would be bad if she was incognito.

By the end of the day, they had reached the ferry town. Naruto offered to pay for their tickets, since they had taken the boy in their cart for them. Tsunade declined but eventually had to accept. The ferry would take a few days, but the blonde needed all the medical attention he could get. That's what Tsunade figured was their reasoning for this.

She had first decided to help him because he looked somewhat like Naruto. It left a bad taste in her mouth not to help him. She was actually relieved when the holy people wanted to take him with them. It made her know he would be taken care of. The smooth charismatic way the boy had talked the healers into releasing him was hilarious. He only had to lead them around with his voice and they were in his mercies. She would have to see if there was a kekkei genkai like that.

In the morning, only the boy and the girl he called Jun were around. They said that their Mother Miko had gone back to prepare for the boy. It was interesting that she knew so much. She seemed interested in Tsunade's methods for healing, but other than that, she seemed to know so much. A real wise woman and she expected a boy to take her place. He seemed smart and humble, but there was no way he would be like her anytime soon. She seemed to have seen hundreds of years and he was barely a teen.

"Boy, come here," Tsunade called to him one day right before they landed at Moon.

"Yes ma'am?" He asked her, walking up to her and peering up at her.

"I want to make sure this kid gets to your place safe. I have invested too much time in keeping him alive to not see him to a proper bed and shelter." She told him with a no nonsense tone.

"Oh. No problem, ara." He simply said, "I thought you'd be heading that way anyways, ara. But Michiru-kun will want to meet you eventually. He likes meeting new residents of his country. He's really nice."

"Michiru? As in Prince Michiru?!?"

"Oh no," Naruto said giving a chuckle, "He's king now."

Tsunade's mouth dropped. Naruto fled before there was anymore questions. Tsunade noted he was good at hiding when he didn't want to be found.

Soon, they had docked and there was two people waiting on the docks. One was the tall Miko and the other was another teen just a bit older. He had jade eyes, bone white hair, and finely made garments of silk. It was a Chinese top that draped to his knees and fine black silk pants and shoes. The colors where crème and gold on his top, a flower embroidered onto the bottom part.

Shikamaru realized who he was, but managed to stay calm. His eyes met the jade eyes of the bone-user and both sent a message of silence.

"Kimi!!" Naruto greeted with a hug, "Oh Kimi-kun I missed you, ara!"

Kimimaro was very confused about Naruto's affection, but kept a neutral expression.

"Where is the one I was told about?" Kimimaro asked him calmly.

"Over here," Naruto told him, tugging at his hand and leading him to Deidara.

Both boys were careful as they got him back on the wagon. Anko drove once more. By now she had grown use to the boy telling her how improperly she acted. Shiroi led the ox and finally, Naruto was home again.

It was kind of funny. He never thought he would ever have a place he would happily think of as home. But he did and there were faces that went with that place called home.

"I'll go get miss 'dark and lonely' to help," Jiri called out, vanishing inside, "Let's just hope she's not all fussy."

"She's had her coffee," Kimimaro offered as he concentrated on lifting the fur pelt that was being used as the bed.

"Lucky," Jiri muttered darkly.

"There should be still some left in the pot," Kimimaro commented.

"Then what am I still doing here?" She yelped, picking up her pace.

Naruto, Shikamaru, Hinata, and Kimimaro gently carried him into the inner court yard as Tsunade and Shizune followed Shiroi in. Anko once again guarding the cart.

"This place is huge," Tsunade commented in awe, "How many people do you have living here?"

**"Honestly? Just five."** Shiroi said with a chuckle, **"But we were hoping to multiply those numbers. We have number six for however long he needs to stay, but we are still gathering more."**

"But… the kid… he made it sound like he's taking over a whole huge temple!" Tsunade said pointing to the still kasa wearing Naruto.

**"Well, it is a big thing,"** Shiroi shrugged, **"I mean, who else is going to become my protégé? It's not everyday that one shows signs of being able to become the next Kitsune Priest or Priestess of Light. I only have him."**

"Kitsune… Light?" Tsunade managed out as she looked at Shiroi just a bit longer.

She was about to question her, but someone familiar finally popped in. Wearing her usual up and business like apparel. She was wearing pencil black slacks with a modern corset sewn into the pants that stopped at the midsection and a white button up blouse with elegant sleeves. Her stiletto heels clacking lightly on the stone pavement. Her hair was done where she had some hair encompassing each side of her face and her fringes neatly cut in a gentle curve and the rest in a high ponytail. Her make-up was a light shade of lavender and her golden eyes ever so familiar on her pale face.

"Ah. I was wondering how long it would take you to get here," She said in a dismissive tone, "Jiri must have spotted you on the way in? I don't know where she has been the last few days, but suddenly she comes into to my room and starts talking her head off as usual."

"Hancock." Shizune managed to speak for both her and Tsunade.

Naruto and the others had set Deidara down in the shaded area of the courtyard and were now watching.

"If you're here… then that means that… this whole time…" Tsunade looked over at the kitchen, then at the kasa wearing boy.

"Well, you didn't think I was stupid enough not to know when it was dangerous to give myself away, did you? I am much smarter then that Kaa-chan, dattebayo!" Naruto said as he huffed, crossing his arms.

"Brat," Tsunade said with an awed sound, "That really you?"

Hinata's eyes went wide when she realized it was Naruto as well. Shizune was still trying to get over the shock of seeing Hancock again, let alone realizing in who's company they had been keeping.

"Of course! Who else do you know who runs around with huge miko right behind them? Or the staff even?" Naruto whined, still not taking off the kasa, "I am still Uzumaki Naruto! Dattebayo!!"

Tsunade had him wrapped in a hug faster then Hinata could faint, which she did shortly afterwards. Kimimaro had caught her before she hit the floor.

"Naruto," Tsunade cried as she swatted off the hat and hugged him.

It was then that she saw his prism white locks of hair and the sparse locks of golden yellow. He let out a yelp for air, but she paid no mind.

Jiri walked out of the kitchen, her henge dispelled and looked at the display. She sipped on her coffee lightly and glanced at Hana.

"So, you wanted me for something?"

"Yes, you're scratches and scribbles of this paperwork are terrible, I can't read them at all, fix it or I will feed you to a dragon."

"Yeesh," Jiri rolled her eyes, "Can we talk about something that relates to what is going on? I mean, that is Kaa-chan and she is hugging a kid to death."

"Your point?" Hana asked, raising a thin eyebrow at her sister's comment.

"Shouldn't we, I don't know, help? Or at least be somewhat jealous?"

Hana looked over to where Naruto was trying to escape the hug, Tsunade rambling his name a couple more times and 'Oh, I can't believe it is you!' before looking at her sister.

"Jealous of what?" she asked in total sincerity.

Jiri stared at it a minute longer, "Yeah, that looks painful actually."

"I guess we should assist…"

"Yeah…"

"…"

"…"

"… Is there any more coffee left?"

Jiri perked up at that, "Oh, yeah there is! I want another cup before everyone else heads into the kitchen."

"Right, let's go."

"KAA-CHAN!!!" Naruto yelped unhappily as she ruffled his hair with her hand, "AIR!!"

She finally pulled away. Her face turning from one of pure happiness to one of anger, "Who the hell do you think you are? Walking around with us for at least a week without even mentioning, oh I don't know, that you are Naruto! Jun! Was that even her name? Or was that Jiri? Who the hell did you two think you were walking around and pretending not to know us! Huh?"

"You s-said it your-s-self, Kaa-chan," Naruto stuttered as he raised his hands defensively and scooted back in a nervous manner, "You could reveal who you were looking for just incase of prying eyes or ears. We w-were doing the same, 'tebayo!"

"Yo," Anko yelled as she entered the mansion, "I heard screaming and wanted to know… GAKI!"

"Anko!!! Help!" Naruto cried out as he backed further away from the seething Tsunade.

Anko just smiled, crossing her arms and leaning against the threshold, "Oh no, this is revenge for the whole window incident. And for every remark you made about my eating habits."

"Shiroi!!" Naruto whimpered.

Shiroi, who had removed her henge, shrugged, **"A kitling shouldn't cross their mothers. Kitsune rule number 41. They get total right to punishment. Since she does have legal guardianship over you there is nothing I can do."**

"Ah man, this is such a drag!!" Naruto yelped before turning tail and running for his life.

If Deidara hadn't been given a good dose of sedatives by Jiri that morning when she predicted something like this would happen, he might have actually awoken to such terribly loud sounds.

Kimimaro and Shikamaru were still trying to revive Hinata. Who had fainted when she realized that the boy she had been talking to that whole time was Naruto.

"Tsunade-sama," Shizune begged, "Please don't damage anything, this place looks really expensive!"

Oh, the life of the exiled was anything but boring.

* * *

So, What did you think about the chapter?

So? How did you like the reunion?

Shiroi means white. Thank you Shizuka Taiyou for the name suggestion. I liked it the moment I tried it out. Though I want to thank Dragon Man 180 for the names he offered too!!

Kousa means golden sands. Just thought that would work for her!

So once again we must part for update! I thank you all for your reviews! They make me feel very special! lol!

_Bows_ Please take care of my story, it is in your hands to make or break (no useless flames, only ones that will help make this better please. Will delete the ones that are **useless** bashing of my writing)

Ja Ne

Volleys-chan


End file.
